William Blake

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William Blake
1757-1827
Samson Breaking his Bonds
1805
Watercolor, over pencil, on paper.
15 9/16 x 14 1/16 inches (396 x 357 mm)
Bequest of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne.
1974.43
Notes: 

Watermark: none visible through lining.

Inscription: 

Signed with initials in pen and black ink at lower right, "inv. WB".

Provenance: 
Thomas Butts; sale, London, Foster and Sons, 29 June 1853, lot 105; J.C. Strange; George Smith; sale, London, Christie's, 16 July 1880, lot 103; Rimmell; William Bell Scott; sale, London, Christie's, 20 March 1914, lot 51; James Tregakis; J. L. Field; sale, London, Sotheby's, 30 July 1946, lot 464; A.S.W. Rosenbach; Mrs. Landon K. Thorne.
Associated names: 

Butts, Thomas, 1759-1846, former owner.
Strange, J. C., former owner.
Smith, George, former owner.
Rimmell, former owner.
Scott, William Bell, 1811-1890, former owner.
Field, J. L., former owner.
Rosenbach, A. S. W. (Abraham Simon Wolf), 1876-1952, former owner.
Thorne, Landon K., Mrs., former owner.

Bibliography: 

Blake Collection of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne, exhibition catalogue by G.E. Bentley, Jr., Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1971, no. 23, repr.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Seventeenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1972-1974. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1976, p. 153.

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