(b) The Ancient Man blessing a Blind Man; the two Women behind. Also fine and careful; the glimpse of thin tree-stems through a door very elegant. (c) The Ancient Man asleep; a young Woman beside him; another looking on. Fine. Here the patterned dress disappears, but a patterned quilt comes as a substitute. (d) Figures kneeling near some richly-sculptured columns, seemingly in awe at some impending catastrophe. Not quite finished, nor so remarkable as the preceding three; yet Blake-like and mysterious. (e) The Ancient Man bathing with a Woman in a streamlet; another Woman reclining on the bank behind. A wonderful design, excellent in the tone and depth obtained with simple execution. (f) The Ancient Man, with a Woman watching the Blind Man. The blind man is not one of Blake's finer figures, but more in the manner of Westall. Less good than others, yet meritorious. (g) The Ancient Man, and an aged Woman, playing Harps. Good. (h) The Blind Man walking with a Woman who has snaky hair. Poor in touch, the handling being certainly not wholly that of Blake. (i) The Blind Man cursing or denouncing a King and his Companions; Women kneeling to intercede. Excellently designed and composed. (5) The Blind Man, upheld on the shoulders of an athletic Herdsman, addressing a kneeling Queen and others. A very grand, inventive design; the work of an artist having some affinity to Flaxman, but more imaginative. (k) The Blind Man, supporting a swooning Woman, and addressing the King and others. Good, though inferior to the preceding. A pyramid is introduced in this design. (1) A Woman contemplating the Blind Man, outstretched on a Vineyard ground, apparently dead. Fine. The vines, in lithe, tall ranks, are managed with a true sense of the clear, tempered shadow among thick leafage. LIST No. 3. WORKS OF UNASCERTAINED METHOD, (Whether Coloured or Uncoloured,) ARRANGED ACCORDING TO SUBJECT. * Indicates that the Work is more probably coloured. A.-BIBLICAL AND SACRED. 1. *He rode upon the Cherubim. [Mr. Money, from Mr. Butts.] 2. The Departure of Lot. [Mr. Harrison.] 3. *Jacob and his Twelve Sons. [Mr. Slocock, from Mr. Butts.] 4. Samuel. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts.] 5. The Waters of Babylon. [From Mr. Butts.] 6. *The Nativity. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts.] 7. The Circumcision. [Mr. Martin, from Mr. Butts.] 8. Christ and His Disciples. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts.] 9. *The Beheading of John the Baptist. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts.] 10. *The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. [Mr. Martin, from Mr. Butts.] 11. Christ before Pilate. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts.] 12. *Death on the Pale Horse. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts.] *Satan in his former Glory. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts.] 14. Christ and the Church. [Mr. Golding, from Mr. Butts.] 15. *Christ and a Heavenly Choir. [Mr. Thomas, from Mr. Butts. B.-POETIC AND MISCELLANEOUS. 16. *So judged He man.'-(Paradise Lost). [Mr. Fuller, from Mr. Butts.] * Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen.' [Mr. Fuller, from Mr. Butts.] *O Father, what extends thy hand, she cried, Against thy only son?' 17. 18. (Satan, Sin, and Death, from Paradise Lost'). [Mr. Fuller, from Mr. Butts.] 19. *Subject from 'Hervey's Meditations.' [Mr. Money, from Mr. Butts.] *One hundred and fourteen Designs to Gray's Poems. [The Duke of Hamilton.] Reputed to be among the very finest works executed by Blake. 21. 'I have sat down with the worm.' 22. Probably the same design as in the 'Gates of Paradise,' and reported to be fine. A Dream of Death. 23. The Genius of Morning. 24. Portraits of the Actors Cooke and Kemble. [From Mr. Butts.] THE subjoined is a Debtor and Creditor Account between Blake and Mr. Butts, which, as an authentic record of the scale of prices received by the artist, and also as fixing the date of production of some of his most remarkable works, deserves insertion here:: ENGRAVINGS. [The following Lists, especially the Second, do not, of course, pretend to completeness. Size is given when it could be ascertained, except in cases where it has been already specified, according to reference.] WORKS DESIGNED AS WELL AS ENGRAVED BY BLAKE. IN VOL. I. King Edward and Queen Eleanor. 1779. See p. 201, Vol. II. Mary Wollstonecraft's Tales for Children. 8vo, Six Plates. 1791 1794. 14 in. Job: 'What is man, that Thou shouldst try him every moment?' 1794 90-91 137 139-144 Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts. Folio. 1797. Nine Plates to Hayley's Ballads. 4to. 1805 Ditto, reduced, for the 12mo. edition The Canterbury Pilgrims. 1817 165 160, 168-170 . 199 228-232 242-243 Small Plate altered from the same for Frontispiece. 8vo. The Accusers of Theft, Adultery, Murder. A Scene in the Last Judgment. Satan's Holy Trinity. The Accuser, the Judge, and the Executioner. The first title inscribed on the background, over the heads of the figures. Very powerful and terrible. 9 x 5 in.. 256 Moses laid in the flags by the river's brink.' Small Engraving, of exquisite delicacy and finish. The figure of the mother, fainting and fallen back from the little ark, is very beautiful. In the background are pyramids, a sphinx, and river winding down the land—a grand yet sweet ideal of Ancient Egypt. 4 × 3 in. IN VOL. Drowned figures, man and woman, lying on rocks by the sea. Enormous eagle soaring above. Engraved after the fashion of 'wood-cutting on metal.' Very fine. 5 × 41 in. Adam and Eve. Subject looking at first like the Finding the Body of Abel. Adam and Eve stand in impassioned sorrow over a youthful figure-not dead, however, but manacled by the wrists and ankles to the rocky ground-who turns his eyes upon them. A sort of St. Peter's Dome appears in the distance. The design is probably intended for a prophetic symbol of the Atonement. The heads of Adam and Eve are each encircled by a nimbus. On the background is inscribed, Type by W. Blake, 1817.' Very similar to the headpiece of the America. 41 x 3 in. Group of Figures on the edge of a rock by the sea, gazing, as it appears, on some awful or supernatural spectacle in the clouds and waters; roughly etched, in the same method as the preceding. A most impressive, indeed appallingly suggestive, composition. 11 × 8 in. Figure, with a glory, standing before a rising or setting sun or globe. Mirth and her attendant Spirits. Milton's Allegro. Engraved from the first Design of the series for the Allegro and Penseroso. Rather small. P. 233, Vol. II. Death's Door. For the Grave Sacred to Simplicity. Four male figures. Female figure placing a scroll on a monument. A Man kneeling. Angels and Demons behind. Etchings. Subjects from Shakespeare. (Sold at T. H. Burke's Sale, Seventeen Woodcuts to Thornton's Virgil. 1820 . PAGE 58 240 273-275 Sweeping the Interpreter's House, from the Pilgrim's Progress. The man who sweeps the parlour is here a demon-like figure, with strong spiny wings, and the dust he raises is filled with numerous insect-like spirits. A graceful angelic figure brings the water in a bowl. Example of Blake's 'wood-cutting on copper,' very painterlike in treatment and effect, of signal richness and beauty. Inventions to the Book of Job. Folio. 1826 . Mr. Cumberland's Card-plate. 1827 Dante. Seven Plates. Small folio. 1824-1827 282-291 356 333-334 |