They offer a sublime and physical drama involving a range of characters and poetic motifs. Six of the eight plates are drawn from the First Book of Urizen, the 'illuminated book' considered by scholars to be Blake's most insistent and powerful meditation upon the body, one which connects with the contemporary culture of the Gothic. Perhaps nowhere else in BlakeÂ’s printed works is it possible to encounter, with such perfect directness, the essential viscerality of his art.

Provenance

The artist's widow; Frederick Tatham. The work has been vetted by the Art Loss Register.