Tempera. 1809 or earlier. In the National Gallery
Of serenity, of clarity, there is none; but Blake’s virtue, his quality with its necessary attendant defects, dominates this work and makes it precious in the sense of a unique record of a unique conception. Therefore it is fittingly placed as a representative of Blake’s genius in our National Palace of Art.
What the place assigned to Blake by future generations will be is not for me to predict. That he has been gravely misapprehended and foolishly neglected until the last few years is common knowledge, but even to-day the ranks of his true lovers are scattered and few, though there are some people who affirm that an exaggerated distinction, an inflated value, attaches to his name at present, as a result of the swing of time’s pendulum. Such people, however, are not among those who under any circumstances would be likely to admire Blake or appreciate his unique point of view.
This little book has had for its object, not the imparting of any new facts about him, nor the technical discussion of his works, but the reverent and sympathetic meditation on our own National Blake treasures, with a view to understanding the great spirit who projected them. I have attempted to point out their essential beauties and value, not from the vantage-ground of the connoisseur, but from the point of view of the sympathetic observer. I have sought to explain, to justify, the affinity felt for them by those to whom the doctrine of “Art for art’s sake” is not an all-satisfying thesis, who would fain find in plastic art a language expressive of spiritual intuitions and revelation. Blake’s mission undoubtedly was to discover in his representations of visible phenomena the spiritual cause, or correspondence, of which it appeared to him to be merely a type. How far his ideas are consistent with the conditions and scope of an art which must necessarily concern itself with surfaces and appearances, it is hard to say. His view of art’s function was largely, but not wholly true, yet in its special application was profoundly noble and salutary. Exaggerated, perhaps, in his recoil from the materialism and preoccupation with physical and natural beauties as ends in themselves which characterized the art of his day, he set to work to liberate one hitherto unsuspected aspect of art’s functions, at the expense of belittling the recognized and practised articles of belief recited in her honour by the masters of his time.
The innerness of art; that is what he was concerned about. Impetuously, passionately he stormed along the rugged track he had set himself to explore, ignoring much of beauty and truth to either side of him, because his eyes were so steadfastly fixed on his goal. To-day we acclaim him as the heroic and devoted priest of a new and yet old altar to Art, the flame of which has been kept burning since his time by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelites, and Mr. G. F. Watts.
INDEX
Academy, Royal, Blake attends the schools of, [6], [50].
Academy, Royal, Exhibits at, [8], [14], [43].
Academy, Royal, A grant from, [50].
Accusers, The Three, [121].
Ahania, The Book of, [23], [120].
America, [23];
described, [107];
a cancel-sheet for, [121].
Ancient of Days, The, [56], [112].
Apprenticeship to Basire, [5], [20].
Atonement, The, [191].
Ballads on Animals, illustrations to Hayley’s, [31], [137].
Bard, The, [164].
Basire, Blake apprenticed to, [5];
his influence, [150].
Bathsheba at the Bath, [167].
Blake, Robert, [4], [15], [133];
his death, [15].
Blake, William, birth, [3];
family history, [4];
birthplace, [3];
his brothers and sister, [4];
marriage, [9];
suggested as tutor to the royal family, [22];
his last sketch, [56];
death, [56];
lived at Green Street, [11];
Broad Street, [14];
Poland Street, [15];
Lambeth, [21];
Felpham, [24];
South Molton Street, [29];
Temple, [50];
his hatred of oppression, [16];
visions of his brother, [17];
his kind-heartedness, [22];
trial for sedition, [29];
influence over younger men, [47], [52];
his circle of friends, [48], [52], [54];
his surroundings in later years, [50];
his appearance, [51], [54];
German eulogy, [54];
learns Italian, [54];
his poverty, [82];
his exhibition, [40];
criticisms on painting and poetry, [40];
his artistic affinities, [41];
his aim in art, [7];
his literary affinities, [37];
views on contemporary artists, [20], [46];
justifies his mode of representation, [165];
his inability to depict Christ, [145], [190];
his intuitive system of belief, [61];
his detachment from his age, [61];
his view of humanity, [65], [66].
Bouchier, Catherine, married to Blake, [9];
her character, [10];
her death, [56];
her assistance in printing, [83].
Calvert, Edward, friendship with Blake, [52].
Canterbury Pilgrims, The (Blake’s), designed, [37];
completed, [38];
exhibited, [40].
See [Stothard, Thomas].
Canterbury Pilgrims, The (Engraving), issued, [44];
discussed, [176].
Coleridge, S. T., meeting with Blake, [47].
Cowper, engravings for Hayley’s Life of, [31].
Cromek, R. H., his relations with Blake, [35-37], [39].
Dante, illustrations to the Divina Commedia of, [54];
discussed, [180].
David delivered out of Deep Waters, [190].
Death of Earl Godwin, [8].
Death’s Door, development of the design of, [91], [96].
Descriptive Catalogue of Blake’s exhibition, [40], [77], [82], [165], [172], [178], [192].
Designs, The Large Book of, [120].
Designs, The Small Book of, [120].
Education, Blake’s early, [4].
Ellis and Yeats, Commentary on Blake, [1], [3], [16], [22], [30], [49], [57], [60], [71].
Elohim Creating Adam, The, [171].
Europe, [23];
described, [110].
Exhibitions of Blake’s works, (1809), [40];
(1904), [159].
Felpham, residence at, [24], [179];
early enjoyment of, [25];
subsequent unhappiness at, [27].
Flaxman, J., introduction to, [8];
aid from, [12], [23];
correspondence with, [25].
Flight into Egypt, The, [167].
French Revolution, The, [17].
Fresco, Blake’s use of the term, [38].
Fuseli, Blake’s friendship with, [8], [17], [50];
his appreciation of Blake, [11], [38], [50].
Gates of Paradise, The, [23];
described, [93].
Ghost of Abel, The, [17].
Ghost of a Flea, [49].
Gilchrist’s Life of Blake, [1], [9], [32], [50], [51], [55].
Glad Day, [179].
Gothic influences, [5], [151].
Grave, The, Blake’s illustrations to Blair’s: sold to Cromek, [35];
published, [39];
discussed, [140];
described, [143];
Blake’s introductory verses, [141].
Hayley, Blake’s introduction to, [23];
life at Felpham, [24-31];
illustrations to his Ballads, [31];
to his life of Cowper, [31];
letters to, [32].
Hecate, [168].
Humphrey, Ozias, Blake’s relations with, [38].
Hunt, Leigh, inept criticisms by, [42].
Ideas of Good and Evil, [30].
Irish ancestry suggested for Blake, [3].
Jerusalem, [31], [34];
discussed, [123];
described, [127].
Job, The Book of, drawings for, [54];
discussed, [148];
described, [151];
sold, [148].
Joseph of Arimathea, [6].
Judgment of Paris, The, [172].
Lamb, Charles, appreciative criticisms by, [99], [179].
Lamech and his Two Wives, [168], [169].
Laocoon, [50].
Last Judgment, The, [38].
Lazar House, The, [188].
Le Brun, Blake’s early aversion to her work, [6].
Lenore, illustrations to Bürger’s, [137].
Linnell, John, Blake’s friendship with, [47], [54], [150];
and the Book of Job, [149].
Little Tom the Sailor, [179].
Los, The Book of, [23];
described, [122].
Los, The Song of, [23];
described, [121].
Madness, his alleged, [73].
Malkin’s Memorials of his child, illustrated by Blake, [38].
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The, [17];
discussed, [90];
quoted, [101].
Mathew, the Rev. Henry, an early friend, [11-14].
Michael Angelo, his influence on Blake, [4], [6], [78], [141], [171], [187].
Milton, [31];
discussed, [130];
described, [133].
MS. Notebook, Blake’s, references to, [6], [11], [26], [30], [38], [45], [46], [81], [82].
Mystical views, Blake’s, are misunderstood, [72-79];
explained by Smetham, [75].
Mythological characters, Blake’s, [71], [105], [112], [117].
National Gallery, works by Blake in the, [189].
Nativity, The, [161], [162].
Nebuchadnezzar, [22].
Nelson, The Spiritual Form of, etc., [185].
Night Thoughts, designs for Young’s, [23];
described, [137].
Oberon, Titania, and Puck, [169].
Paine, Tom, Blake’s acquaintance with, [17].
Pars’ drawing-classes, Blake attends, [4].
Pitt guiding Behemoth, The Spiritual Form of, [192].
Poetic Genius, his theory of the, [67], [68].
Poetical Sketches, [12].
Prices now brought by Blake’s work, [100], [107], [110], [113], [121], [130], [148].
Prices received by Blake, [21], [35], [38], [100], [149].
Processes employed by Blake, [38], [82], [91], [150], [166], [168], [179], [186], [187].
Procession from Calvary, [191].
Raphael, early love for, [6].
Religious views, [57-71], [102].
Religious views, Swedenborg, [57], [58];
pantheism, [62];
Blake’s beliefs, [62];
the necessity of contraries, [65];
“art in religion,” [67].
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his advice to Blake, [19].
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, Blake’s MS. notes on Reynolds’ Discourses, [6], [19], [79].
River of Life, The, [163], [169].
Robinson, Henry Crabb, his relations with Blake, [2], [40], [45], [47], [51], [54], [63], [73].
Rossetti, D. G., appreciations of Blake, [12], [40], [185].
Rossetti, D. G., owns Blake’s MS. Notebook, [30].
Rubens, early comments on, [6].
Rylands, proposal to apprentice Blake to, [4].
Satan Watching Adam and Eve, [161].
Satan, Sin, and Death, [172].
Satan Triumphing over Eve, [171].
Satan’s Three Accusers, [121].
Schiavonetti, Lewis, engraves the drawings for the Grave, [36], [140], [145].
Shakespeare, designs to illustrate, [37].
Shields, Mr. Frederick J., [52], [138], [183], [185].
“Single Vision” of Bacon and Newton, [92].
Songs of Experience, [97];
described, [98].
Songs of Innocence, [16];
described, [83].
Stothard, Thomas Blake’s introduction to, [8];
quarrel with, [37], [40], [42], [43].
Stothard, his Canterbury Pilgrims, [37];
exhibited, [38];
described, [176].
Swedenborg, his influence, [38], [57].
Swinburne, Mr. A. C., criticisms by, [11], [45], [62], [95], [104], [105], [115].
Tales for Children, [91].
Tathams, Blake’s friendship with the, [52], [56], [113].
Technique, his deficiency in, [78].
Thel, The Book of, [17];
described, [87].
There is no Natural Religion, [115].
Three Maries with the Angel at the Sepulchre, [161].
Tiriel, [89].
Urizen, The Book of, [23];
described, [116].
Vegetative Life, what Blake meant by the, [2], [64], [127].
Virgil’s Pastorals, woodcuts for, [49];
described, [146].
Vision of Queen Katherine, [173].
Visionary Heads, drawn by Blake, [48].
Visions of the Daughters of Albion, [23];
described, [104].
Visions of Blake; in childhood, [2];
in later years, [17].
Water-colour sketches, [187], [188].
Westminster Abbey, drawings in, [5].
Whore of Babylon, The, [187].
Wise and Foolish Virgins, The, [169].
Wollstonecraft, Mary, acquaintance with, [17];
designs for her Tales, [91].
Women, his views on the position of, [70].
CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
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