The Morgan Library & Museum Online Exhibitions - William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun"

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William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun" | Chronology
September 11, 2009, through January 3, 2010

Chronology of William Blake as Represented by Major Works in the Morgan's Collection

Age	Year and Event

	1757 Born, 28 November; lived at 28 Broad Street, Golden Square
10	1767 Began drawing lessons with Henry Pars
15	1772 Apprenticed to James Basire at 31 Great Queen Street (completed seven years later, in August 1779)
22	1779 Admitted to Royal Academy in October; studied as an engraver; exhibited in 1780, 1784, 1785, 1799, and 1808 Began engravings for books published by Joseph Johnson (1738–1809) 1779–86 (sixteen plates for seven books); 1786–1801 (ninety plates)
25	1782 Married Catherine Boucher, 18 August, in Battersea; moved to 23 Green Street, Leicester Fields
26	1783 *Poetical Sketches*
27	1784 Opened a print shop with James Parker at 27 Broad Street, probably in October; business dissolved in 1785
30	1787 Death of his brother Robert
31	1788 Etched *There Is No Natural Religion,* which probably was not printed until 1794
32	1789 *Songs of Innocence* *The Book of Thel,* which perhaps was not printed before 1791 Engraved *Satan*
33	1790 Moved to 13 Hercules Buildings, Lambeth *The Marriage of Heaven and Hell* (first book from Hercules Buildings)
36	1793 Visions of the Daughters of Albion America
37	1794 Songs of Innocence and of Experience Europe The First Book of Urizen
38	1795 The Song of Los The Book of Los
40	1797 Night Thoughts
43	1800 Moved from Lambeth to Felpham, Sussex, 18 September; returned to 17 South Moulton St., London, in autumn 1803
46–47	1803–4 Quarreled with a soldier in his garden at Felpham in August; tried for uttering seditious statements, 1803; cleared in a second trial, 1804 Began Jerusalem, which probably was first printed 1820; last copy produced 1827
48–53	1805–10 Created watercolor illustrations for the Book of Job for Thomas Butts
50	1807 Pickering manuscript
51	1808 The Grave
59–63	1816–20 Created watercolors for *Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso* for Thomas Butts
61	1818 Met John Linnell
62	1819 Began drawing visionary heads for Varley
63	1820 **On Homer's Poetry [and] On Virgil**
63–68	1820–25 For the Sexes: Gates of Paradise
64	1821 Moved to 3 Fountain Court, Strand Publication of Thornton's Pastorals of Virgil
66–69	1823–26 Began to engrave illustrations for the Book of Job, published by Linnell in 1826
67	1824 Met the young artists who called themselves the Ancients in his honor
67–69	1824–27 Blake's illustrations of Dante, of which only seven plates were produced; printed posthumously (1838)
69	1827 Died 12 August; Catherine died 18 October 1831

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Key to London Addresses:

Multiple locations in and around Broad Street and Golden Square, 1757–90; South Moulton Street, 1803–21
31 Great Queen Street (apprenticeship to James Basire) 1772–79
13 Hercules Buildings, Lambeth, 1790–1800
3 Fountain Court, Strand, 1821–27

John Rocque. A New and Accurate Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster. . . . London, 1748. Detail, pl. vi. Purchased on the Henry S. Morgan Fund, 2007. PML 129921.

William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun" | Chronology September 11, 2009, through January 3, 2010

William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun" | Chronology
September 11, 2009, through January 3, 2010