WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
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WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)

The Bed of Death (recto); and A subsidiary sketch of a figure in a doorway (verso)

Details
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
The Bed of Death (recto); and A subsidiary sketch of a figure in a doorway (verso)
with inscription and number, '91 /The Bed of Death /Wm Blake' (on the reserve)
pencil, pen and grey ink and grey wash, fragmentary watermark, on laid paper
5 ¾ x 5 1⁄8 in. (14.7 x 13.2 cm.)
Provenance
Probably Mrs Catherine Blake (1762-1831), London, by whom bequeathed to
Frederick Tatham (1805-1878); Sotheby’s, London, 29 April 1862, lot 174 (part), where purchased by
Colonel Gould Weston (1823-1904), and by descent to
Mrs Jane Hunter-Weston (1837-1911), and by descent to
Miss Nora Hunter [The Collection of the late Colonel Gould Weston]; Christie’s, London, 15 July 1957, lot 29 (40 gns to The Andrea Corporation).
The Woodner Collection; Christie’s, London, 9 July 1991, lot 86.
with Salander O’Reilly, New York.
Literature
M. Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, New Haven and London, 1981, p. 52, no. 139, as untraced, circa 1780-5(?).
R. N. Essick, Blake in the Marketplace, 1991, 'Blake, an Illustrated Quarterly', vol. 25, no. 4, 1992, pp. 146-7, illustrated.
R. N. Essick, Blake in the Marketplace, 2012, 'Blake, an Illustrated Quarterly', vol. 46, no. 4, 2013, under no. 5.
Exhibited
New York, 'William Blake, Paintings, Watecolors and Drawings’, essays by Martin Butlin and Robin Hamlyn, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, 1992, no 25.

Brought to you by

Nathalie Ferneau
Nathalie Ferneau Head of Sale, Junior Specialist

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Lot Essay

The present work depicts a figure of a woman sitting at her dressing table, looking to her right towards the bed, clearly startled by something. Rays of light appear to emanate from the bed, possibly representing death and the soul departing to Heaven. Blake explored the subject of illness and death in a small group of drawings, circa 1780-85, of which the present sheet is one. His interest in man's mortality was perhaps a natural development from his religious sensibilities.

The exploration of religion and death was popular in late 18th and early 19th Century Britain. As early as 1743, Robert Blair had published his celebrated, monumental poem The Grave, exploring the subject of death. Its enormous popularity influenced what became known as the Graveyard School of Poetry. In October 1805, Blake was commissioned by Robert Cromek to prepare forty drawings, from which Cromek would chose twenty, to serve as illustrations for a new illustrated edition of the poem. The present drawing obviously pre-dates this scheme but Martin Butlin has surmised that there was an unrecorded scheme to illustrate this text much earlier.

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