William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun"
September 11, 2009, through January 3, 2010
William Blake (1757–1827) occupies a unique place in the history of Western art. His creativity included both the visual and literary arts. In his lifetime he was best known as an engraver; now he is also recognized for his innovative poetry, printmaking, and painting. Blake's keen perception of the political and social climate found expression throughout his work. His strong sense of independence is evident in the complex mythology that he constructed in response to the age of revolution.
Blake was already recognized as an engraver at age twenty-five, when his first volume of poems appeared. At thirty-three, in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, he audaciously claimed that his birth had marked the origin of a "new heaven" in which his own art would exemplify the creativity prefigured by Milton and Michelangelo. By that time, Blake, in one of his most productive periods, had already produced Songs of Innocence and was at work on a series of illuminated books. In 1818 he met John Linnell, a young painter and engraver, through whom a group of young artists became Blake's followers. Calling themselves the Ancients, they helped perpetuate Blake's influence for generations.
The Morgan's Blake collection—one of this country's most distinguished—began with purchases as early as 1899 by Pierpont Morgan. During the tenure of Charles Ryskamp, director from 1969 to 1986, major gifts almost doubled the size of its Blake holdings. In recent years Ryskamp's own gifts of engravings, letters, and related materials have significantly enriched its scholarly resources.
This exhibition is made possible through the generosity of Fay and Geoffrey Elliott.
William Blake (1757–1827)
Melancholy
Watercolor, over traces of black chalk. Signed at lower right in pen and black ink, W. Blake inv
Purchased with the support of the Fellows with the special assistance of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne and Paul Mellon; 1949.4:7
The Morgan preserves Blake's twelve watercolor designs for Milton's early poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso that contrast the cheerful man with the melancholic, thoughtful one. Like the illustrations for the Book of Job, Blake created them on commission for Thomas Butts about 1816–20. The two series were separated in 1903 and not reunited until 1949, when they were acquired as the first purchase by the Morgan's newly formed Association of Fellows.
Milton, along with Dante and the Bible, was one of Blake's great inspirations. Blake wrote a long and mystical poem, Milton, and executed several other series of illustrations for Milton's works.
Each of the watercolors in this series is accompanied by Blake's transcription of the relevant portion of the poem as well as his notes on his design.
All drawings in watercolor, over traces of black chalk. Signed at lower right in pen and black ink, W. Blake inv.
Purchased with the support of the Fellows with the special assistance of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne and Paul Mellon; 1949.4:1–12
7
Come pensive Nun Devout & pure
Sober stedfast & demure
All in Robe of darkest grain
Flowing with majestic train
Come but keep thy wonted state
With even step & musing gait
And looks commercing with the Skies
And join with thee calm Peace & Quiet
Spare Fast who oft with Gods doth diet
And hears the Muses in a ring
Ay. round about Joves altar sing
And add to these retired Leisure
Who in trim Gardens takes his pleasure
But first & Chiefest with thee bring
Him who yon soars on golden Wing
Guiding the Fiery wheeled Throne The Cherub Contemplation
Less Philomel will deign a song
In her sweetest saddest plight
Smoothing the rugged Brow of Night
While Cynthia Checks her dragon yoke
Gently o'er the accustomd Oak
These Personifications are all brought together in this design surrounding the Principal Figure Who is Melancholy herself
