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Lot Essay
The present work is one of a group of twenty drawings for Dr Robert Thornton’s 3rd edition of ‘Pastorals of Virgil…Adapted for Schools’, published in 1821; this drawing was plate 19.
Dr. Thornton was John Linnell’s doctor and it was through the latter that he was introduced to Blake in September 1818. Blake was working on the illustrations for the scheme by September 1820. Dr. Thornton however, was not happy with Blake’s work and intended to scrap his involvement in the project. However ‘a chance conversation with Sir Thomas Lawrence, James Ward, John Linnell and others at Mr. Ader’s prevented him from having them all recut’. When they were published, Thornton added the disclaimer that ‘they display less of art than genius, and are much admired by some eminent painters’. The engravings were too large for the page and had to be slightly cropped. The plates for the scheme were in Linnell’s collection and are now in the British Museum.
Dr. Thornton was John Linnell’s doctor and it was through the latter that he was introduced to Blake in September 1818. Blake was working on the illustrations for the scheme by September 1820. Dr. Thornton however, was not happy with Blake’s work and intended to scrap his involvement in the project. However ‘a chance conversation with Sir Thomas Lawrence, James Ward, John Linnell and others at Mr. Ader’s prevented him from having them all recut’. When they were published, Thornton added the disclaimer that ‘they display less of art than genius, and are much admired by some eminent painters’. The engravings were too large for the page and had to be slightly cropped. The plates for the scheme were in Linnell’s collection and are now in the British Museum.