.™ ■ ■' -■*■ .■ O. ■ ■ . V=>- CARFAX EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY WILLIAM BLAKE Born 1757. Died 1827. 74 June to 31 July 1906. CARFAX & CO., LTD. 24, BURY ST., ST. JAMES'S, LONDON, S.W. PRICE ONE SHILLING. _„,*i^ 57- SYDNEY STYLE, Esn. No. 51 (A-C, F, G-LJ. SIR EDMUND VERNEY, Bart. No. 77 (BJ. Messrs. Carf.'W also acknowledge their indebtedness for assistance in arranging their Exhibition and compiling their Catalogue to Gilchrist's Life of William Blake, 2 vols., 1863, and 2nd Ed., 1880; to the earliest Iconographies of Blake by Mr. William Michael Rossetti in both editions; and to the Catalogue of THE Burlington Fine Arts Club 1876; to Mr. Laurence Binyon's valuable criticism and assistance ; to Mr. Archibald Russell's notes, the result of his recent researches, generously placed at Messrs. Carfax' disposal ; to Mr. W. Graham Robertson's practical experience, gained in reviving Blake's method of colour printing ; and to information concerning the chemical alterations in colours communicated by Mr. S. W. Littlejohn. NOTICE. Works which are not for sale imder any conditions are labelled NOT FOR SALE. Works sold will be labelled as usual with a red ticket. A CATALOGUE OF FRESCOES, PRINTS, & DRAWINGS BY WILLIAM BLAKE. FRESCOES. (Paintings in Tempera.) No. 1— THE TEMPTATION OF EVE. On Copper. lo x 14^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. No. 2— CHRIST'S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. On Copper. i2| x 19. Signature obliterated, no date. The presence of children is not noticed by any of the Evangelists. Blake characteristically composes the crowd mostly of children, remembering that the acclamations of the children in the Temple on the following day especially displeased those in authority. S. Matthew xxi. 5. Ifo. 3— THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN. On Steel. 10 x 14^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. The version of S. Luke, Ch. xxii. 42, 43. No. 4— ADAM NAMING THE BEASTS. On very fine Canvas or Linen. 2g^ x 245. Signed, Fresco by Will':! Blake 1810. No. 6— THE VH^GIN AND CHILD IN EGYPT. On Canvas. 28f x 23J. Signed, Fresco by Win. Blake 1810. No. 6— SIR JEFFEKY CHAUCER AND THE NINE-AND- TWENTY PILGRIMS ON THEIR JOURNEY TO CANTERBURY. BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, Number III Vide Appendix to the present Catalogue. On Canvas. i8f x 53^. Signed, W. Blake 1808. No. 7— LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS. On Canvas. lotf^ x 15. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. Genesis xix. JO, S'C. No. 8— BATHSHEBA. On Canvas. 15 x 10. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. 2 Samuel x. 2, 3. No. 9— THE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL APPEARING TO ZACHARIAS THE PRIEST. On Canvas. gf x i4i. Signed, W. B. no date. S. Luke i. 8-12. Blake represents in minute detail the furniture and vestments ordained by the Law. The Altar of Incense and the Table of Shew-bread are furnished with their golden horns, rings, and crown, and the Table with its plates and covered bowls. The Seven-branched golden Candlestick is ornamented with its hnops and almond-flowers. The vestments of the Priest are represented with equal accuracy : the Mitre with its Phylactery, the Ephod of blue, bordered with its golden bells, and blue, purple, and scarlet pomegranates ; the curious woven girdle and the shoulder pieces, and, attached to both with its rings and chains of gold, the Breast-plate set with the Twelve Stones. The Angels at the base of the Candlestick are the invention of the Gentile artist. No. 10— THE ADORATION OF THE KINGS. On Canvas. loj x 15. Signed, W. B. 1799. No. 11— THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. On Canvas. 10^ x 15. Signed, W. B. inv. 1790. No. 12— THE INFANT CHRIST RIDING UPON A LAMB. On Canvas. 10^ x 14J. Signed, W. B. inv. 1800. No. 13— THE VIRGIN ADORING THE CHILD CHRIST ASLEEP UPON A CROSS. On Canvas. 10^ x 14^. No signature nor date. No. 14— CHRIST HEALING THE BLIND MAN. On Canvas. io| x 15. Signed, W. B. no date. No. 16— CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. On Canvas. loi x 15. Signed, W. B. 1790. 6 No. 16— THE ENTOMBMENT CONDUCTED BY JOSEPH OF ARIMATH^A. On Canvas. loi x 14^. No signature nor date. No. 17— THE BODY OF ABEL FOUND BY ADAM AND EVE ; CAIN, WHO WAS ABOUT TO BURY IT, FLEEING FROM THE FACE OF HIS PARENTS. Vide Appendix to the present Catalogue, Blake's Descriptive Catalogue, Number XL, Note. On Panel. i2f x 17. No signature nor date. No. 18— SATAN TORMENTING JOB. On Panel. 12J x i6i. Signed, W. Blake fecit, no date. " So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." — Job ii. 7. No. 19— WINTER. On Panel, varnished. 31* x 11. No signature nor date. " O Winter ruler of the inverted year Thy scattered air with sleet-like ashes filled." Cowper, The Task, iv. No. 20— EVENING. On Panel, varnished. 31^ X n. No signature nor date. " Come Ev'ning once again season of Peace Return sweet Ev'ning and continue long." Cowper, The Task, iv. The above two panels formed the supports of a chimney-piece in Cowper's house at Felpham ; above was a third panel, a view of Olney Bridge, the only landscape which Blake is known to have painted ; it is now destroyed. No. 21— THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. On Panel. ii^, x gi. Signed, Fresco J 82.'} Blake. No. 22— THE GHOST OF A FLEA. On Panel. 8i x 6^. Signed, W. Blake Fresco, no date. circ. 1820? On the back of the panel is written : " The Vision of the Spirit tvhich tnhabits the body of a Flea, and which appeared to the late Mr. Blake, the designer of the vignettes for Blair's " Grave " and the " Book of fob." The Vision first appeared to him in my presence, and afterivards till he had finished this picture. The Flea diet,' blood in this. . . . (remainder illegible). /. Varley." This is John Varley (1778-1842), the landscape-painter and astrologer. He relates the story at length in his " Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy," 1828. It is quoted by Southey in "The Doctor," and by Gilchrist, vol. II., p. 303-4, 2nd Ed. No. 23— THE BARD, FROM GRAY. BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, Number IV. Vide Appendix to the present Catalogue On Canvas. 24 x 175. Signed, \V. Blake 1809. No. 24— THE SPIRITUAL FORAI OF NELSON GUIDING LEVIATHAN, IN WHOSE WREATHINGS ARE INFOLDED THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH. BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, Number I. Vide .Appendix to the present Catalogue On Canvas. 29! x 24^. No signature nor date. No. 25— COUNT UGOLINO AND HIS SONS. On Panel. i2| x i6i. Signed, W. Blake fecit, no date. PRINTS (Designs on Paper, first outlined and then coloured by Impression, finished with the Brush.) No. 26— THE HOUSE OF DEATH. 1 9 X 24. Signed, W. B. 1795. Immediately a place Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noisome, dark, A lazar-house it seem'd, wherein were laid Numbers of all diseas'd ; Dire was the tossing, deep the groans ; Despair Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch ; And over them triumphant Death his dart Shook, but delay'd to strike. Paradise Lost, XL, 477, S'C No. 27— ELIJAH SEATED IN THE CHARIOT OF FIRE. 17 X 21. Signed, W. B. inv. 1795. 2 Kings 11. 11, 12. No. 28— PITY. 17 X 21. Signed, Blake, no date. " Pity like a naked new-born babe Striding the blast, and like heaven's cherubim hors'd Upon the sightless couriers of the air." — Macbeth i. 7. No. 29— NEWTON. 18^ X 23I. Signed, 1795 W. B inv. 9 No. 30— GOD CREATING ADAM. 17I X 21. Signed, 1795 \V . B. in No. 31— HECATE. 17 X 23. Signed, Blake, no date. "The triple Hecate." — Midsummer-night's Dream, V. 2. No. 32— THE GOOD AND EVIL ANGEL. 17* X 23 J. Signed, W. B. inv. 1795. No. 33— NEBUCHADNEZZAR. i» X 24. Signed, 7795 IF. B. inv. " Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles* feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." — Daniel iv. 33. No. 34— SATAN EXULTING OVER EVE. 16J X 21. Signed, W. Blake 1795. No. 35— LAMECH. 17 X 24. Signed, W. B. mv. 1795. " And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice ; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech : for 1 have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt : " If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and seven- fold." — Genesis iv. 23, 24. 10 DRA WINGS, (Drawings in Water Colour.) No. 36— SATAN IN HIS ORIGINAL GLORY. i6J X 13^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. " Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. " Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God ; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold : the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. " Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth ; and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. " Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was ound in thee. " I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire." — Ezekiel xxviii. 12-16. No. 37— JACOB'S LADDER. A Drawing. BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, Number XIII. Vide Appendix to the present Catalogue. 14I X 11^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. " And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it." — Genesis xxviii. 12. No. 38— THE COMPASSION OF PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER. i2f X i2i. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. Exodus i. 15-22; ii. 1-8. 11 No. 39— THE SACRIFICE OF JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER. 14J X 13. Signed, W. B. inv. 1803. " And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed : and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, " That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year." — Judges xi. 39, 40. No. 40— JOB CONFESSING HIS PRESUMPTION TO GOD. 15I X 13. Signed, W. B. tnv. no date. " Then Job answered the Lord, and said, " Behold, I am vile ; what shall I answer thee ? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. "Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. " Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind. . . ." — Job xl. 3-6. No. 41— THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST. 12^ X 13^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. No. 42— THE SOLDIERS CASTING LOTS FOR CHRIST'S GARMENT. A Drawing. BLAKES DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, Number XII. Vide Appendix to the present Catalogue. 16* X 12} Signed, W. B. inv. 7800. " Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part ; and also his coat : now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. " They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be." — John xix. 23, 24. 12 No. 43— CHRIST ON THE CROSS TAKING LEAVE OF HIS MOTHER. i6 X ii|. Signed, IV.B.inv. no date. " When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother. Woman, behold thy son ! " Then saith he to the disciple. Behold thy mother ! " — S. Johnlxix. 26, 27. No. 44— THE ASCENSION. 17 X 125. Signed, 11'. B. inv. no date. No. 45— THE DEATH OF ST. JOSEPH. 14! X i3|- Signed, W. B. inv. 1803. No. 46— THE DORMITION OF THE VIRGIN. 14J X 14J. Signed, W. B. inv. 1803. No. 47— THE FOUR-AND-TWENTY ELDERS. 14 X 11^ Signed, W. B. inv. no date. " And immediately I was in the Spirit : and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. " And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone : and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. " And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices : and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. " And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal : and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. " And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. " And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him ; and they were full of eyes within. 13 " And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, " The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne." — Revelation iv. 2-77. No. 48— THE RIVER OF LIFE. 1 6 X 14^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. " And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. " In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." — Revelation xxii. 1 , 2. No. 49— THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS. 15I X 18J. S\gn&A, W. B. inv. 1817. Ate a Fury (the monster in the air) not having been invited to a certain feast had cast upon the table a golden apple inscribed " For the Fairest." Hera, Athene and Aphrodite having contended for the prize and agreed to submit to the judgment of Paris, are conducted by Hermes before him, as he keeps sheep on mount Ida. Eros, son of Aphrodite, is influencing him to award the apple to his mother. No. 50— PHILOCTETES. Ill X 17^. Signed, W. Blake 1812. The drawing represents the Embassy under Ulysses sent by the Greeks to entice Philoctetes to return to the camp before Troy, because he possessed the arrows of Hercules without which Troy could not be taken. He had previously been marooned by Ulysses on account of a septic wound in the foot, which rendered his presence intolerable to the whole camp. Having thus incurred his hatred, Ulysses sends the son of Achilles, Neoptolemus, called Pyrrhus from his fire-coloured hair, to entrap him. Pyrrhus is here arguing with Philoctetes. Though it is more probable that Blake would have derived the story from Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, the three spectators suggest rather, by their disinterested attitudes, the Chorus of Sophocles's drama. 14 No. 61— TWELVE DESIGNS FOR MILTON'S PARADISE LOST. Another set, consisting of nine drawings larger in size and slightly differing in design, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (A) SATAN CALLING UP HIS LEGIONS. 9| X 8i Signed, W. B. Book I., 283-334. (B) SATAN, SIN AND DEATH AT THE GATE OF HELL. gf X 8. Signed, W. Blake, no date. Book II., 629-870. (C) "F.\THER, THY WORD HATH PASSED, MAN SHALL FIND GRACE." 10 X 81 Signed, 7807 W. B. Book III., 227. (D) SATAN WATCHING THE ENDEARMENTS OF ADAM AND EVE. 10x8. Signed, W. B. no date. Book IV., 393-535. (E) DESCENT OF RAPHAEL TO WARN ADAM OF SATAN'S ENTRANCE INTO PARADISE. gj X 7|. Signed, W. Blake 1807. Book v., 219-305. (F) THE CONVERSATION OF RAPHAEL WITH ADAM. 10 X 8. No signature nor date. Book v., 451-615. (G) MESSIAH CASTING THE REBEL ANGELS INTO HELL. 10 X 8. Signed, W. Blake, no date. Book VI., 824-877. 15 (H) THE CREATION OF EVE. gi X 8. Signed, W. B. 1807. Book VIII., 452-490. (/) EVE EATING THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT. g| X 8. Signed, W. B. 1807. Book XL, 780. (/) CONDEMNATION OF ADAM AND EVE. 94 X 7f . Signed, W. Blake, no date. Book X., 92-208. (K) MICHAEL FORETELLING THE CRUCIFIXION TO ADAM. 9^ X 7i. Signed, W. B. 1807. Book XII., 401-420. (L) ADAM AND EVE LED BY MICHAEL OUT OF PARADISE. 9| X 7|. Signed, W. B. 1807. Book XII., 624-640. No. 52— QUEEN KATHARINE'S VISION. 2nd Version, in polychrome. Cf. No. 58 and 78. 8 X 6f . Signed W. B. no date. No. 53— THE STONING OF ACHAN. 15 X 13^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. Joshua vii. The above title is probably correct on account of the burning in the background. The drawing has also been called " The Blasphemer " in reference to the stoning of the son of Shelomith. Leviticus xxiv. 10-14. 16 No 54.— RUTH. A Drawing. BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, Number XV. Vide Appendix to the present Catalogue. 14 X 12^. Signed, W. B. inv. 1803. Ruth i. 75-77. No. 55— FIRE. 12I X i6|. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. No. 56— THE FALL OF MAN. 19} X 15^. Signed, 1 S07 W. Blake inv. On the back is the following explanation written by Blake : — The Father indignant at the Fall : the Saviour, while the evil angels are driven, gently conducts our first parents out of Eden through a guard of weeping angels. Satan now awakes Sin and Death and Hell to celebrate with him the birth of War and Misery ; while the Lion seizes the Bull, the Tiger the Horse, the Vulture and Eagle contend for the Lamb. No. 57— THE LAST JUDGEMENT. igi X 15. "Signed, W. Blake inv. 1806. No. 58— QUEEN KATHARINE'S VISION. ist \'ersion, in bistre. Cf. No. 52 and 78. i5f X 12} Signed, W. B. inv. 1807. Griffiths : She is asleep : good wench, let's sit down quiet, for fear we wake her : softly, gentle Patience. The Vision, Enter, solemnly tripping one after another, six Personages, clad in white robes, wearing on their heads garlands of bays, and golden vizards on their faces; branches of bays, or palm in their hands. They first congee unto her, then dance ; and, at certain changes, the first tivo hold a spare garland over her head : at which the other four make reverend court'sies : then, the two that held the garland deliver the same to the other next two, who observe the same order in their changes and holding the garland over her head ; which done, they deliver the same garland to the last two, who likewise obsei-ve the 17 same order ; at which, as it were by inspiration, she makes in her sleep signs of rejoicing, atid holdeth up Iter hands to heaven : and so in their dancing they vanish, carrying the garland with them. The music continues. — King Henry VIII., iv., 2. No. 59 -PESTILENCE. i2i| X ig^ij. Inscribed, " Pestilence. W. B. invt." no date. Another version of this subject is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. No. 60-A BREACH IN A CITY— THE MORNING AFTER THE B.\TTLE. Signed, IV. B. inv. &■ d. no date. This signature, which resembles the usual monogram, has previously been misread as a date. No. 61— CHRIST CRUCIFIED BETWEEN THE TWO THIEVES. 1 6 X i2f. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. " And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. " But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? " And we indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. " And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. " And Jesus said unto him. Verily I say unto thee. To day thou shalt be with me in paradise." — S. Luke xxiii. 39-43. No. 62— CHRIST BAPTIZING. i2-»y X 15^. Signed, W. B. inv. 1805. The treatment is ideal, not historical. S. John states specifically that Christ did not Himself baptise but commissioned His disciples to do so (S. John iv. 2). Blake is not likely to have overlooked S. John's statement. 18 No. 63— TWO DRAWINGS ENGRAVED IN 1793. (A) THE DEATH OF EZEKIEL'S WIFE. 13! X i9g. No signature nor date. The Engraving, which measures 19 x 14, is inscribed Ezekiel : ' Take aivay from thee the desire of thine eyes' — Ezck. xxiv. 17. Painted and Engraved by W. Blake, Oct. 27, 1793, 13 Hercules Buildings, Lambeth. (B) THE COMPLAINT OF JOB. 13 X 19J. No signature nor date. The Engraving, which measures 19 x 14, is inscribed fob : ' What is Man that thou shouldest try him every moment ? ' — fob vii. 17, 18. Painted and Engraved by William Blake 1793. No. 64— THE RAISING OF LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD. 1 5 X 12. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. S. fohn xi. 43, 44. No. 65— THE ENTOMBMENT. 16 X 12. Signed, W. B, inv. no date. No. 66-THE THREE MARIES AT THE SEPULCHRE. 14! X 16. Signed, W. B. inv. 1803. S. Matthew xxviii. 1-8; S. Mark xvi. 1-8. No. 67— THE SEALING OF THE STONE OF CHRIST'S SEPULCHRE AND SETTING OF A WATCH. 16 X 13. Signed, IV. B. inv. no date. S. Matthetii xxvii. 66. 19 No. 68— THE PARDON OF ABSALOM. i2i X i4f. Signed, IF. B. iiiv. no date. 2 Samuel xiv. 33. No. 69— CHRIST IN THE LAP OF TRUTH. 14}! X i2|-. Signed, W.B.inv. no date. .\ water-colour version of the oil painting {23 x 19) exhibited at the International Exhibition 1862, No. 148; one of the few oil paintings which Blake produced. It is described by Mr. William Michael Rossetti in Gilchrist's " Life of Blake." 2nd Ed., vol. 2, p. 244, No. 217. No. 70— CHRIST GIRDING HIMSELF WITH STRENGTH i4f X i2i^. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. Psalm xlv. 2, 3. No. 71— THE VESTING OF ADAM AND EVE IN COATS OF SKIN. 15* X III. Signed, W.B. inv. 1803. Genesis iii, 9-11 , 21, No. 72— GOD BLESSING THE SEVENTH DAY. 16J X 14. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. Genesis ii. 2, 3. IfO. 73— THE HYMN OF CHRIST AND THE ELEVEN APOSTLES. 15 X 12-i. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. S. Matthew xxvi. 30 ; S. Mark xiv. 26. 20 No. 74— SAMSON SUBDUED. 14 X 15. Signed, W. B. inv. no date. Judges xvi. 15-20. No. 76— S. PAUL SHAKING OFF THE VIPER. ^bi ^ 1^8 Signed, W. B. inv. no date. Acts xxvii, 3-5. jfO. 76— DESIGNS TO ILLUSTRATE THE BOOK OF TIRIEL. (A) TIRIEL SUPPORTING THE SWOONING MYRATANA, AND ADDRESSING HIS SONS. 7| X lof. No signature nor date. {F) TIRIEL AND HELA. 7 X lof. No signature nor date. (L) HELA CONTEMPLATING TIRIEL DEAD IN A VINEYARD. 7^ X lof. No signature nor date. No. 77— EARLY HISTORICAL DRAWINGS BY BLAKE, SHOWING THE INFLUENCE OF HIS MASTER, JOHN HAMILTON MORTIMER (b. 1739— d. 1779). (A) THE ORDEAL OF QUEEN EMMA. 12^ X i8f. No signature nor date. '21 {B) THE PENANCE OF JANE SHORE IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH. A Drawing. Vide Appendix to the present Catalogue, BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. Number XV., Note. 4^ X 7- jfO^ 78— THE FOLLOWING SIX DRAWINGS ARE MOUNTED INTO A SECOND FOLIO SHAKE- SPEARE EXHIBITED IN CASE. (A) JACQUES MORALISING THE WOUNDED STAG, gil X y--. Signed in monogram, W. B. inv. 1806. As you like it, ii. 7. (B) RICHARD III. HAUNTED BY THE GHOSTS OF HIS VICTIMS. 8 X 6^. Signed in monogram, W. B. inv. no date. Richard III., v. 3. (C) QUEEN KATHARINE'S VISION. 3rd Version, in polychrome. Cf. No. 52 and 58. 8? X 65. Signed, W.B. 1809. Henry VIII., iv. 2. (D) BRUTUS VISITED BY CESAR'S GHOST. 10 X 6|. Signed in monogram, W.B. inv. 1806. Julius Casar, iv. 3. (E) HAMLET AND HIS FATHER'S GHOST. 8^ X 64. Signed in monogram,' W. B. inv. 1806. Hamlet, i. 1 22 (F) "AS IF AN ANGEL DROPP'D DOWN FROM THE CLOUDS, TO TURN AND WIND A FIERY PEGASUS." gi X 6i^. Signed, It'. Blake 7809. Henry IV., iv. 1. Vide BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, Number VL Appendix to the present Catalogue ILLUMINATED PRINTS. DESIGNS FROM BOOKS. No. 79— SEVEN DECORATIONS TO " THE BOOK OF URIZEN." {A) THE FRONTISPIECE. INSCRIBED "WHICH IS THE W^^Y ? " (B) PAGE 3. INSCRIBED "FLAMES OF FURIOUS DESIRE." (C) PAGE 4. INSCRIBED "THE BOOK OF MY REMEM- BRANCE." 3 X 4i (D) PAGE 8. INSCRIBED "DOES THE SOUL LABOUR LIKE THIS IN CAVERNS OF THE GRAVE." 2A X 3t. 23 (E) PAGE 9. INSCRIBED "ETERNALLY I LABOUR ON." (F) A second example differently coloured. (G) PAGE II. DESIGN 6x4. No. 80— FRONTISPIECE TO "EUROPE, A PROPHECY." Lambeth : Printed by Will. Blake, 1794. Frontispiece. 9 x 6f. The colour in this example is entirely laid on with the brush. APPENDIX Extracts from BLAKE'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE referring to some of the Pictures now re-exhibited. A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE* NUMBER I. The Spiritual Form of Nelson guiding Leviathan, in whose wreathings arc infolded the Nations of the Earth. Clearness and precision have been the chief objects in painting these Pictures. Clear colours unmudded by oil, and firm and determinate lineaments unbroken by shadows, which ought to display and not to hide form, as is the practice of the latter Schools of Italy and Flanders. NUMBER II ;— ITS COMPANION. The Spiritual Form of Pitt guiding Behemoth ; he is that Angel who, pleased to perform the Almighty's orders, rides on the whirhvind, directing the storms of war : He is ordering the Reaper to reap the Vine of the Earth, and the Ploughman to plough up the Cities and Towers. This Picture also is a proof of the power of colours unsullied with oil or with any cloggy vehicle. Oil has falsely been supposed to give strength to colours : but a little consideration must show the fallacy of this opinion. Oil will not drink or absorb colour enough to stand the test of very little time and of the air. It deadens every colour it is mixed with, at its first mixture, and in a little time becomes a yellow mask over all that it touches. Let the works of modern Artists since Rubens' time witness the villany of some one at that time, who first brought Oil Painting into general opinion and practice : since which we have never had a Picture painted, that could show itself by the side of an earlier production. Whether Rubens * "A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE of Pictures, Poetical and Historical Inventions, painted by William Blake in Water-Colours, being the ancient method of Fresco Painting revived ; and Drawings for Public Inspection, and for Sale by Private Contract. London ; Printed by D. N. Shury, 7, Berwick Street, Soho, for J. Blake, 28, Broad Street. Golden Square. 1S09." 26 or Vandyke, or both, were guilty of this villany, is to be inquired in another work on Painting, and who first forged the silly story and known falsehood about John of Bruges inventing oil-colours : in the meantime let it be observed, that before Vandyke's time and in his time all the genuine Pictures are on Plaster or Whiting grounds, and none since. The two Pictures of Nelson and Pitt are compositions of a mythological cast, similar to those Apotheoses of Persian, Hindoo, and Egyptian Antiquity, which are still preserved on rude monuments, being copies from some stupendous originals now lost, or perhaps buried till some happier age. The Artist having been taken in vision into the ancient republics, monarchies, and patriarchates of Asia, has seen those wonderful originals, called in the Sacred Scriptures the Cherubim, which were sculptured and painted on walls of Temples, Towers, Cities, Palaces, and erected in the highly cultivated States of Egypt, Moab, Edom, Aram, among the Rivers of Paradise — being originals from which the Greeks and Hetrurians copied Hercules Farnese, Venus of Medicis, Apollo Belvedere, and all the grand works of ancient art. They were executed in a very superior style to those justly admired copies, being with their accompaniments terrific and grand in the highest degree. The Artist has endeavoured to emulate the grandeur of those seen in his vision, and to apply it to modern Heroes, on a smaller scale No man can believe that either Homer's Mythology, or Ovid's, was the production of Greece, or of Latium ; neither will any one believe that the Greek statues, as they are called, were the invention of Greek Artists ; perhaps the Torso is the only original work remaining ; all the rest are evidently copies, though fine ones, from greater works of the Asiatic Patriarchs. The Greek Muses are daughters of Mnemosyne or Memory, and not of Inspiration or Imagination, therefore not authors of such sublime conceptions. Those wonderful originals seen in my visions were some of them one hundred feet in height ; some were painted as pictures, and some carved as basso-rilievos, and some as groups of statues, all containing mythological and recondite meaning, where more is meant than meets the eye. The Artist wishes it was now the fashion to make such monuments, and then he should not doubt of having a national commission to execute these two Pictures on a scale that is suitable to the grandeur of the nation, who is the parent of his heroes, in high- finished fresco, where the colours would be as pure and as permanent as precious stones though the figures were one hundred feet in height. All Frescoes are as high-finished as miniatures or enamels, and they are known to be unchangeable ; but oil, being a body itself, will drink or absorb very little colour, and, changing yellow, and at length brown, destroys every colour it is mixed with, especially every delicate colour. It turns every permanent white to a yellow and brown putty, and has compelled the use of that destroyer of colour, white-lead, which, when its protecting oil is evaporated, will become lead again. This is an awful thing to say to Oil Painters ; they may call it madness, but it is true. All the genuine old little Pictures, called Cabinet Pictures, are in fresco and not in oil. Oil was not used, except by blundering ignorance, till after Vandyke's time ; but the art of fresco-painting being lost, oil became a fetter to genius and a dungeon to art. But one convincing proof among many others that these assertions are true is, that real gold and silver cannot be used with oil, as they are in all the old pictures and in ]Mr. B.'s frescoes. NOTE. — Both pictures exist. Number I. is in private hands, but it is unfortunately in too fragile a state for exhibition. Number II. is in the National Gallery. Blake's descriptions are quoted as an exposition of his theories. NUMBER III. Sir Jeffery Chaucer and the Ntiie-aitd-twenty Pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. The time chosen is early morning, before sunrise, when the jolly company are just quitting the Tabarde Inn. The Knight and Squire with the Squire's Yeoman lead the Procession ; next follow the youthful Abbess, her nun, and three priests ; her greyhounds attend her : • Of small hounds had she that she fed With roast flesh, milk, and wastel bread.' Next follow the Friar and Monk ; then the Tapiser, the Pardoner, and the Sompnour and Manciple. After these ' Our Host,' who occupies the centre of the cavalcade, directs them to the Knight as the person who would be likely to commence their task of each telling a tale in their order. After the Host follow the Shipman, the Haberdasher, the Dyer, the Franklyn, the Physician, the Ploughman, the Lawyer, the Poor Parson, the Merchant, the Wife of Bath, the Miller, the Cook, the Oxford Scholar, Chaucer himself ; and the Reeve comes as Chaucer has described, — ' And ever he rode hinderest of the rout. ' These last are issuing from the gateway of the Inn ; the Cook and the Wife of Bath are both taking their morning's draught of comfort. Spectators stand at the gateway of the Inn, and are composed of an old Man, a Woman, and Children. The Landscape is an eastward view of the country, from the Tabarde Inn in Southwark, as it may be supposed to have appeared in Chaucer's time ; interspersed with cottages and villages. The first beams of the Sun are seen above the horizon ; some buildings and spires indicate the situation of the Great City. The Inn is a gothic building, which Thynne in his Glossary says was the lodging of the Abbot of Hyde, by Winchester. On the Inn is inscribed its title, and a proper advantage is taken of this circumstance to describe the subject of the Picture. The words written over the gateway of the Inn are as follow : ' The Tabarde Inn, by Henry Baillie, the lodgynge-house for Pilgrims who journey to Saint Thomas's Shrine at Canterbury.' The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are the characters which compose all ages and nations. As one age falls, another rises, different to mortal sight, but to immortals only the same; for we see the same characters repeated again and again, 28 in animals, vegetables, minerals, and in men. Nothing new occurs in identical existence ; Accident ever varies, Substance can never suffer change nor decay. Of Chaucer's characters, as described in his Canterbury Tales, some of the names or titles are altered by time, but the characters themselves for ever remain unaltered ; and consequently they are the physiognomies or lineaments of universal human life, beyond which Nature never steps. Names alter, things never alter. I have known multitudes of those who would have been monks in the age of monkery, who in this deistical age are deists. As Newton numbered the stars, and as Linnaeus numbered the plants, so Chaucer numbered the classes of men. The Painter has consequently varied the heads and forms of his personages into all Nature's varieties ; the Horses he has also varied to accord to their Riders : the Costume is correct according to authentic monuments. The Knight and Squire with the Squire's Yeoman lead the procession, as Chaucer has also placed them first in his prologue. The Knight is a true Hero, a good, great, and wise man ; his whole-length portrait on horseback, as written by Chaucer, cannot be surpassed. He has spent his life in the field, has ever been a conqueror, and is that species of character which in every age stands as the guardian of man against the oppressor. His son is like him, with the germ of perhaps greater perfection still, as he blends literature and the arts with his warlike studies. Their dress and their horses are of the first rate, without ostentation, and with all the true grandeur that unaffected simplicity when in high rank always displays. The Squire's Yeoman is also a great character, a man perfectly knowing in his profession : ' And in his hand he bare a mighty bow' Chaucer describes here a mighty man, one who in war is the worthy attendant on noble heroes. The Prioress follows these with her female chaplain : ' Another Nonne also with her had she, That was her Chapelaine, and Priestes three.' This Lady is described also as of the first rank, rich and honoured. She has certain peculiarities and little delicate affectations, not unbecoming in her, being accompanied with what is truly grand and really polite ; her person and face Chaucer has described with minuteness ; it is very elegant, and was the beauty of our ancestors till after Elizabeth's time, when voluptuousness and folly began to be accounted beautiful. Her companion and her three priests were no doubt all perfectly delineated in those parts of Chaucer's work which are now lost ; we ought to suppose them suitable attendants on rank and fashion. The Monk follows .these with the Friar. The Painter has also grouped with these the Pardoner and the Sompnour and the Manciple, and has here also intro- duced one of the rich citizens in London ; — characters likely to ride in company, all being above the common rank in life, or attendants on those who were so. 29 For the Monk is described by Chaucer, as a man of the first rank in society, noble, rich, and expensively attended : he is a leader of the age, with certain humorous accompaniments in his character, that do not degrade, but render him an object of dignified mirth, but also with other accompaniments not so respectable. The Friar is a character also of a mixed kind : ' A friar there weis, a wanton and a merry : ' but in his office he is said to be a ' full solemn man : ' eloquent, amorous, witty, and satirical ; young, handsome, and rich ; he is a complete rogue ; with constitutional gaiety enough to make him a master of all the pleasures of the world : ' His neck was white as the flour de hs. Thereto strong he was as a champioun.' It is necessary here to speak of Chaucer's own character, that I may set certain mistaken critics right in their conception of the humour and fun that occur on the journey. Chaucer is himself the great poetical observer of men, who in every age is born to record and eternize its acts. This he does as a master, as a father and superior, who looks down on their little follies from the Emperor to the Miller : sometimes with severity, oftener with joke and sport. Accordingly Chaucer has made his Monk a great tragedian, one who studied poetical art. So much so that the generous Knight is, in the compassionate dictates of his soul, compelled to cry out : ' Ho,' quoth the Knyght. 'good Sir, no more of this : That ye have said is right ynougli, I wis. And mokell more ; for little heaviness Is right enough for much folk, as I guess. I say, for me, it is a great disease, Whereas men have been in wealth and ease, To heare of their sudden fall, alas ' And the contrary is joy and solas. ' The Monk's definition of tragedy in the proem to his tale is worth repeating : ■Tragedy is to tell a certain story, As olde books us maken memory. Of hem that stood in great prosperity, And be fallen out of high degree. Into misery, and ended wretchedly.' Though a man of luxury, pride, and pleasure, he is a master of art and learning, though affecting to despise it. Those who can think that the proud Huntsman and noble Housekeeper, Chaucer's Monk, is intended for a buffoon or burlesque character, know little of Chaucer. For the Host who follows this group, and holds the centre of the cavalcade, is a first-rate character, and his jokes are no trifles ; they are always, though uttered with audacity, equally free with the Lord and the Peasant ; they are always 30 substantially and weightily expressive of knowledge and experience ; Henry Baillie, the keeper of the greatest Inn of the greatest City ; for such was the Tabarde Inn in Southwark, near London : our Host was also a leader of the age. By way of illustration, I instance Shakspeare's Witches in Macbeth. Those who dress them for the stage, consider them as wretched old women, and not, as Shakspeare intended, the Goddesses of Destiny ; this shows how Chaucer has been misunderstood in his sublime work. Shakspeare's Fairies also are the rulers of the vegetable world, and so are Chaucer's ; let them be so considered, and then the poet will be understood, and not else. But I have omitted to speak of a very prominent character, the Pardoner, the Age's Knave, who always commands and domineers over the high and low vulgar. This man is sent in every age for a rod and scourge and for a blight, for a trial of men, to divide the classes of men ; he is in the most holy sanctuary, and he is suffered by Providence for wise ends, and has also his great use, and his grand leading destiny. His companion the Sompnour is also a Devil of the first magnitude, grand, terrific, rich, and honoured in the rank of which he holds the destiny. The uses to society are perhaps equal of the Devil and of the Angel ; their sublimity who can dispute ? ' In daunger had he at his owne gise, The younge girles of his diocese, And he knew well their counsel, iSc. The principal figure in the next group is the Good Parson : an Apostle, a real Messenger of Heaven, sent in every age for its light and its warmth. This man is beloved and venerated by all, and neglected by all : he serves all, and is served by none. He is, according to Christ's definition, the greatest of his age : yet he is a Poor Parson of a town. Read Chaucer's description of the Good Parson, and bow the head and the knee to Him, Who, in every age, sends us such a burning and a shining light. Search, O ye rich and powerful, for these men and obey their counsel ; then shall the golden age return. But alas ! you will not easily distinguish him from the Friar or the Pardoner ; they also are ' full solemn men,' and their counsel you will continue to follow. I have placed by his side the Sergeant-at-Lawe, who appears delighted to ride in his company, and between him and his brother the Ploughman ; as I wish men of Law would always ride with them, and take their counsel, especially in all difficult points. Chaucer's Lawyer is a character of great venerableness, a Judge, and a real master of the jurisprudence of his age. The Doctor of Physic is in this group, and the Franklin, the voluptuous country gentlemen ; contrasted with the Physician, and, on his other hand, with two Citizens of London. Chaucer.'s characters live age after age. Every age is a Canterbury Pilgrimage ; we all pass on, each sustaining one or other of these characters ; nor can a child be born who is not one of these characters of Chaucer. The Doctor of Physic is described as the first of his profession : perfect, learned, completely Master and Doctor in his art. Thus the reader will observe that Chaucer makes every 81 one of his characters perfect in his kind ; every one is an Antique Statue, the image of a class, and not of an imperfect individual. This group also would furnish substantial matter, on which volumes might be written. The Franklin is one who keeps open table, who is the genius of eating and drinking, the Bacchus ; as the Doctor of Physic is the iEsculapius, the Host is the Silenus, the Squire is the Apollo, the Miller is the Hercules, &c. Chaucer's characters are a description of the eternal Principles that exist in all ages. The Franklin is voluptuousness itself most nobly portrayed : 'It snewud in his house of meat and drink.' The Ploughman is simplicity itself, with wisdom and strength for its stamina. Chaucer has divided the ancient character of Hercules between his Miller and his Ploughman. Benevolence is the Ploughman's great characteristic ; he is thin with excessive labour, and not with old age, as some have supposed : ■ He woulde thresh, and thereto dike and delve. For Christe's sake, for every poore wight, Withouten hire, if it lay in his might.' Visions of these eternal principles or characters of human life appear to poets in all ages ; the Grecian gods were the ancient Cherubim of Phoenicia ; but the Greeks, and since them the Moderns, have neglected to subdue the gods of Priam. These Gods are visions of the eternal attributes, or divine names, which, when erected into gods, become destructive to humanity. They ought to be the servants, and not the masters, of man or of society. They ought to be made to sacrifice to Man, and not man compelled to sacrifice to them; for, when separated from man or humanity, who is Jesus the Saviour, the vine of eternity ? They are thieves and rebels, they are destroyers. The Ploughman of Chaucer is Hercules in his supreme eternal state, divested of his spectrous shadow ; which is the Miller, a terrible fellow, such as exists in all times and places, for the trial of men, to astonish every neighbourhood with brutal strength and courage, to get rich and powerful, to curb the pride of Man. The Reeve and the Manciple are two characters of the most consummate worldly wisdom. The Shipman, or Sailor, is a similar genius of Ulyssean art, but with the highest courage superadded. The Citizens and their Cook are each leaders of a class. Chaucer has been somehow made to number four citizens, which would nialie his whole company, himself included, thirty-one. But he says there were but nine-and-twenty in his company : ' Full nine-and-twenty in a company.' The Webbe, or Weaver, and the Tapiser, or Tapestry Weaver, appear to me to be the same person; but this is only an opinion, for full nine-and-twenty may signify one more or less. But I daresay that Chaucer wrote ' A Webbe Dyer,' that is a Cloth Dyer: 'A Webbe Dyer and a Tapiser.' 82 The Merchant cannot be one of the Three Citizens, as his dress is different, and his character is more marked, whereas Chaucer says of his rich citizens : ' All were yclothed in o liverie.' The characters of Women Chaucer has divided into two classes, the Lady- Prioress and the Wife of Bath. Are not these leaders of the ages of men ? The Lady Prioress in some ages predominates, and in some the Wife of Bath, in whose character Chaucer has been equally minute and exact ; because she is also a scourge and a blight. I shall say no more of her, nor expose what Chaucer has left hidden ; let the young reader study what he has said of her : it is useful as a scarecrow. There are of such characters born too many for the peace of the world. I come at length to the Clerk of Oxenford. This character varies from that of Chaucer, as the contemplative philosopher varies from the poetical genius. There are always these two classes of learned sages, the poetical and the philosophical. The Painter has put them side by side, as if the youthful clerk had put himself under the tuition of the mature poet. Let the Philosopher always be the servant and scholar of Inspiration, and all will be happy. Such are the characters that compose this Picture, which was painted in self- defence against the insolent and envious imputation of unfitness for finished and scientific art, and this imputation most artfully and industriously endeavoured to be propagated among the public by ignorant hirelings. The Painter courts comparison with his competitors, who, having received fourteen hundred guineas and more from the profits of his designs in that well-known work. Designs for Blair's Grave, have left him to shift for himself ; while others, more obedient to an employer's opinions and directions, are employed, at a great expense, to produce works in succession to his by which they acquired public patronage. This has hitherto been his lot — to get patronage for others and then to be left and neglected, and his work, which gained that patronage, cried down as eccentricity and madness — as unfinished and neglected by the artist's violent temper : he is sure the works now exhibited will give the lie to such aspersions. Those who say that men are led by interest are knaves. A knavish character will often say. Of what interest is it to me to do so and so ? I answer, of none at all, but the contrary as you well know. It is of malice and envy that you have done this ; hence I am aware of you, because I know that you act not from interest but from malice, even to your own destruction. It is therefore become a duty which Mr. B. owes to the Public, who have always recognised him and patronized him, however hidden by artifices, that he should not suffer such things to be done, or be hindered from the public Exhibition of his finished productions by any calumnies in future. The character and expression in this Picture could never have been produced with Rubens' light and shadow, or with Rembrandt's, or anything \'enetian or Flemish. The \'enetian and Flemish practice is broken lines, broken masses, and broken colours : Mr. B.'s practice is unbroken lines, unbroken masses, and unbroken colours. Their art is to lose form ; his art is to find form, and to keep it. His arts are opposite to theirs in all things. 33 As there is a class of men whose whole delight is in the destruction of men, so there is a class of artists whose whole art and science is fabricated for the purpose of destroying Art. Who these are is soon known : ' by their works ye shall know them." All who endeavour to raise up a style against Raphael, Michael Angelo, and the Antique ; those who separate Painting from Drawing ; who look if a picture is well Drawn, and, if it is, immediately cry out that it cannot be well Coloured — those are the men. But to show the stupidity of this class of men, nothing need be done but to examine my rival's prospectus The two first characters in Chaucer, the Knight and the Squire, he has put among his rabble ; and indeed his prospectus calls the Squire ' the fop of Chaucer's age.' Now hear Chaucer : ■ Of his Stature, he was of even length, And wonderly deliver, and of great strength ; .4nd he had be sometime in Chivauchy, In Flanders, in .-^rtois, and in Picardy. And borne him well as of so litele space.' Was this a fop ? Was this a fop : ' Well could he sit a horse, and faire ride He could songs make, and eke well indite, Joust, and eke dance, portray, and well write.' ' Curteis he was, and meek, and serviceable ; And kerft before his fader at the table.' Was this a fop ? It is the same with all his characters ; he has done all by chance, or perhaps his fortune, money, money. According to his prospectus he has Three Monks ; these he cannot find in Chaucer, who has only One Monk, and that no vulgar character, as he has endeavoured to make him. When men cannot read, they should not pretend to paint. To be sure Chaucer is a little difficult to him who has only blundered over novels and catchpenny trifles of booksellers ; yet a little pains ought to be taken, even by the ignorant and weak. He has put the Reeve, a vulgar fellow, between his Knight and Squire, as if he was resolved to go contrary in everything to Chaucer, who says of the Reeve — ' And ever he rode hinderest of the rout.' In this manner he has jumbled his dumb dollies together, and is praised by his equals for it ; for both himself and his friend are equally masters of Chaucer's language. They both think that the Wife of Bath is a young beautiful blooming damsel ; and H says, that she is the ' Fair Wife of Bath,' and that ' the Spring appears in her cheeks.' Now hear what Chaucer has made her say of herself, who is no modest one : ■ But Lord ! when it remembereth me Upon my youth and on my jollity, M , It tickleth me about the hearte root. Unto this day it doth my hearte boot That I have had my world as in my time ; But age, alas, that all will envenime. Hath me bireft, ray beauty and my pith Let go : farewell ! the devil go therewith ! The flour is gone, there is no more to tell : The bran, as best I can, I now mote sell; And yet, to be right merry, will I fond Now forth to telle of my fourth husbond. She has had four husbands, a fit subject for this painter ; yet the painter ought to be very much offended with his friend H , who has called his 'a common scene,' 'and very ordinary forms ; ' which is the truest part of all, for it is so, and very wretchedly so indeed. What merit can there be in a picture of which such words are spoken with truth ? But the prospectus says that the Painter has represented Chaucer himself as a knave who thrusts himself among honest people to make game of and laugh at them ; though I must do justice to the Painter, and say that he has made him look more like a fool than a knave. But it appears in all the writings of Chaucer, and particularly in his Canterbury Tales, that he was very devout, and paid respect to true enthusiastic superstition. He has laughed at his knaves and fools as I do now. But he has respected his True Pilgrims, who are a majority of his company, and are not thrown together in the random manner that Mr, S has done. Chaucer has nowhere called the Ploughman old, worn out with ' age and labour,' as the prospectus has represented him, and says that the picture has done so too. He is worn down with labour, but not with age. How spoti of brown and yellow, smeared about at random, can be either young or old, I cannot see. It may be an old man ; it may be a young one : it may be anything that a prospectus pleases. But I know that where there are no lineaments there can be no character. And what connoisseurs call touch, I know by experience, must be the destruction of all character and expression, as it is of every lineament. The scene of Mr. S 's Picture is by Dulwich Hills, which was not the way to Canterbury ; but perhaps the Painter thought he would give them a ride round about, because they were a burlesque set of scarecrows, not worth any man's respect or care. But tlie Painter's thoughts being always upon gold, he has introduced a character that Chaucer has not — namely, a Goldsmith, for so the prospectus tells us. Why he has introduced a Goldsmith, and what is the wit of it, the prospectus does not explain. But it takes care to mention the reserve and modesty of the Painter ; this makes a good epigram enough : 'Tne fox, the mole, the beetle, and the ba'. By sweet reserve and modesty gel fat.' But the prospectus tells us that the Painter has introduced a ' Sea Captain ; ' Chaucer has a Shipman, a Sailor, a Trading Master of a Vessel, called by courtesy 35 Captain, as every master of a boat is ; but this does not make him a Sea Captain. Chaucer has purposely omitted such a personage, as it only exists in certain periods : it is the soldier by sea. He who would be a soldier in inland nations is a sea-captain in commercial nations. All is misconceived, and its mis-execution is equal to its misconception. I have no objection to Rubens and Rembrandt being employed, or even to their living in a palace ; but it shall not be at the expense of Raphael and Michael Angelo living in a cottage, and in contempt and derision. I have been scorned long enough by these fellows, who owe to me all that they have ; it shall be so no longer : I found them blind. I taught them how to see ; And now they know neither themselves nor me. NOTE. — The well-known print of this picture was published by Blake in 1810. NUMBER IV. The Bard, from Gray. On a rock, whose haughty brow Frown'd o'er old Conway's foaming flood. Robed in a sable garb of woe. With haggard eyes the Poet stood : Loose his beard and hoary hair Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air Weave the warp, and weave the woof. The winding-sheet of Edward's race. Weaving the winding-sheet of Edward s race by means of sounds of spiritual music, and its accompanying expressions of articulate speech, is a bold, and daring, and most masterly conception, that the public have embraced and approved with avidity. Poetry consists in these conceptions ; and shall Painting be confined to the sordid drudgery of facsimile representations of merely mortal and perishing substances, and not be, as poetry and music are, ele\ated into its own proper sphere of invention and visionary conception ? No, it shall not be so ! Painting, as well as poetry and music, exists and exults in immortal thoughts. If Mr. B.'s Canterbury Pilgrims had been done by any other power than that of the poetic visionary, it would have been as dull as his adversary's. The Spirits of the murdered bards assist in weaving the deadly woof : With me in dreadful harmony they join. And weave, with bloody hands, the tissue of thy line. The connoisseurs and artists who have made objections to Mr. B.'s mode of representing spirits with real bodies would do well to consider that the Venus, the Minerva, the Jupiter, the Apollo, which they admire in Greek statues, are all of them 36 representations of spiritual existences, of Gods immortal, to the mortal perishing organ of sight ; and yet they are embodied and organized in solid marble. Mr. B. requires the same latitude, and all is well. The Prophets describe what they saw in Vision as real and existing men whom they saw with their imaginative and immortal organs ; the Apostles the same ; the clearer the organ the more distinct the object. A Spirit and a Vision are not, as the modern philosophy supposes, a cloudy vapour or a nothing : they are organized and minutely articulated beyond all that the mortal and perishing nature can produce. He who does not imagine in stronger and better lineaments, and in stronger and better light, than his perishing mortal eye can see, does not imagine at all. The painter of this work asserts that all his imaginations appear to him infinitely more perfect and more minutely organized than anything seen by his mortal eye. Spirits are organized men : Moderns wish to draw figures without lines, and with great and heavy shadows; are not shadows more unmeaning than lines, and more heavy ? Oh, who can doubt this ! King Edward and his Queen Eleanor are prostrated, with their horses, at the foot of a rock on which the Bard stands ; prostrated by the terrors of his harp, on the margin of the River Conway, whose waves bear up a corse of a slaughtered bard at the foot of the rock. The armies of Edward are seen winding among the mountains : ' He wound with toilsome march his long array.' Mortimer and Gloucester lie spell-bound behind their king. The execution of this Picture is also in Water-colours, or Fresco. NUMBER V. The Ancient Britons. In the last Battle of King Arthur only Three Britons escaped; these ifcre the Strongest Man, the Beautifullest Man, and the Ugliest Man : these three marched through the field unsubdued, as Gods, and the Sun of Britain set, but shall arise again with tenfold splendour when Arthur shall awahe from sleep, and resume his dominion over earth and ocean. NOTE. — Here follows a long and interesting description. The picture is lost ; it was probably the largest picture ever painted by Blake, the figures being described as nearly, if not quite, life-sized. NUMBER VI. ' A Spirit vaulting from a Cloud to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus ' — Shakspeare. The Horse of Intellect is leaping from the Cliffs of Memory atul Reasoning : it is a barren Rock : it is also called the Barren Waste of Locke and Neivton. This Picture was done many years ago, and was one of the first Mr. B. ever did in Fresco ; fortunately, or rather providentially, he left it unblotted and unblurred, 37 although molested continually by blotting and blurring demons! but he was also compelled to leave it unfinished for reasons that will be shown in the following. NOTE.— The drawing in water-colour now decorating Mr. G. A. Macmillan's Second Folio Shakespeare is the same design as the Fresco described above. The Fresco is lost. NUMBER VII. Tlu- Goats, an cxpcriiiunt Picture. NOTE. Here follows a short description stating that the subject is taken from "The Missionary Voyage." The Fresco is lost. NUMBER VIII. TIic spiritual Preceptor, an experiment Picture. NOTE. — Here follows a short description stating that the subject is taken from the Visions of Emanuel Swedenborg (Universal Theology, No. 6231. The Fresco is lost. NUMBER IX. Satan calling up his Legions, from Milton's Paradise Lost ; a composition for a more perfect Picture, afterward executed for a Lady of high rank. An experiment Picture. NOTE. "Here follows a description at some length ending with the following note : — Note. — These experiment Pictures have been bruised and knocked about, without mercy, to try all experiments. This Note clearly difTerentiates the first nine pictures, called Frescoes or Experiment Pictures, from the following seven, each of which is called "A Drawing." These Drawings were drawings in water-colour and on paper. The replica in fresco mentioned in the title is still in existence, and is in the possession of Lord Leconfield. NUMBER X. The Bramins. — A Drawing. NOTE.— The subject is stated in a short note to be " Mr. Wilkin translating the Geeta." The Brahman book, 'The Bhagavad-gita," was translated into English, probably for the first time, by Charles Wilkins, Senior Merchant of the East India Company on their Bengal Establishment, in 1785, with a letter of commendation by Warren Hastings. The Drawing by Blake is lost. 38 NUMBER XI. The Body of Ahcl found by Adam and Eve ; Cain, ivho was about to bury it, fleeing from the face of his Parents. — A Drawing. NOTE. — There is no description. The drawing is lost. In the Fresco of this subject now exhibited, Blake partially realized the wish that he expresses in his remarks on Number XIV. concerning that and the three preceding numbers, XI., XII., and XIII. "The above four drawings the Artist wishes were in Fresco on an enlarged scale, to ornament the altars of churches, and to make England, like Italy, respected by respectable men of other countries on account of Art." NUMBER XII. The Soldiers casting Lots for Christ's Garment. — A Drawing. NUMBER XIII. Jacob's Ladder. — A Drawing. NOTE. — There is no description of these two drawings, which are identical with those now exhibited. NUMBER XIV. The A ngels hovering over the Body of Jesus in the Sepulchre. — A Drawing. NOTE. — A water-colour drawing of this subject exists, and could probably be identified with the one exhibited by Blake. It has not been available for the present Exhibition. NUMBER XV. Ruth. — A Drawing. This Design is taken from that most pathetic passage in the Book of Ruth, where, Naomi having taken leave of her daughters-in-law with intent to return to her own country, Ruth cannot leave her, but cays, ' Whither thou goest, I will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God : where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried : God do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.' 39 The distinction that is made in modern times between a Paintinc; and a Drawing proceeds from ignorance of art. The merit of a Picture is the same as the merit of a Drawing. The dauber daubs his Drawings ; he who draws his Drawings draws his Pictures. There is no difference between Raphael's Cartoons and his Frescoes, or Pictures, except that the Frescoes, or Pictures, are more finished. When Mr. B. formerly painted in oil colours, his Pictures were shown to certain painters and connoisseurs, who said that they were very admirable Drawings on canvas, but not Pictures ; but they said the same of Raphael's Pictures. Mr. B. thought this the greatest of compliments, though it was meant otherwise. If losing and obliterating the outline constitutes a Picture, Mr. B. will never be so foolish as to do one. Such art of losing the outlines is the art of Venice and Flanders ; it loses all character, and leaves what some people call expression : but this is a false notion of expression ; expression cannot exist without character as its stamina ; and neither character nor expression can exist without firm and determinate outline. Fresco Painting is susceptible of higher finishing than Drawing on Paper, or than any other method of Painting. But he must have a strange organization of sight who does not prefer a Drawing on Paper to a Daubing in Oil by the same master, supposing both to be done with equal care. The great and golden rule of art, as well as of life, is this : That the more distinct, sharp, and wiry the bounding line, the more perfect the work of art ; and the less keen and sharp, the greater is the evidence of weak imitation, plagiarism, and bungling. Great inventors, in all ages, knew this : Protogenes and Apelles knew each other by this line. Raphael and Michael Angelo, and Albert Diirer, are known by this and this alone. The want of this determinate and bounding form evidences the idea of want in the artist's mind, and the pretence of the plagiary in all its branches. How do we distinguish the oak from the beech, the horse from the ox, but by the bounding outline ? How do we distinguish one face or countenance from another, but by the bounding line and its infinite inflexions and movements ? What is it that builds a house and plants a garden, but the definite and determinate ? What is it that distinguishes honesty from knavery, but the hard and wiry line of rectitude and certainty in the actions and intentions ? Leave out this line and you leave out life itself; all is chaos again, and the line of the Almighty must be drawn out upon it before man or beast can exist. Talk no more then of Correggio or Rembrandt, or any other of those plagiaries of Venice or Flanders. They were but the lame imitators of lines drawn by their predecessors, and their works prove themselves contemptible disarranged imitations, and blundering misapplied copies. NOTE. — For the reasons stated under Number IX., the Drawing exhibited by Blake was the water-colour of the same subject included in the present Exhibition, and not " the finished tempera painting," No. 53, of the Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. 40 NUMBER XVI. The Penance oj Jane Shore in Saint Paul's Church. — -A Drawing. This Drawing was done above Thirty Years ago, and proves to the Author, and he thinks will prove to any discerning eye, that the productions of our youth and of our maturer age are equal in all essential points. If a man is master of his profession, he cannot be ignorant that he is so ; and, if he is not employed by those who pretend to encourage art, he will employ himself, and laugh in secret at the pretences of the ignorant, while he has every night dropped into his shoe — as soon as he puts it off, and puts out the candle, and gets into bed — a reward for the labours of the day, such as the world cannot give ; and patience and time await to give him all that the world can give. NOTE. — The Drawing now exhibited may be a sketch for the one exhibited by Blake, and not the identical Drawing. It would seem likely that he exhibited a more finished Drawing, perhaps in the style of "The Ordeal of Queen Emma." Nevertheless no other example of "The Penance of Jane Shore " has yet been discovered. Good and Co., Uurleigh St.. Strand, W (J ^a,rff*. aW(!