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拍品专文
This work probably comes from the now disbound and dispersed second copy of A Small Book of Designs, dated 1796 on the illustration used as a title-page (see M. Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, New Haven and London, 1981, p. 137, no. 261). It corresponds to page 9 of the first copy, now in the British Museum (Butlin, 1981, p. 134, no. 260 9, pl. 314). A third version, from the collection of Sir Geoffrey Keynes and now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, was previously thought to be that from the second copy of A Small Book of Designs (Butlin, op.cit., pp. 138-9, no. 261 4, pl. 353).
The design was originally used as an illustration at the top of page 3 of Blake's Urizen, 1794, where it seems to illustrate Los (poetic inspiration) rousing his fires (see, inter alia, D. Erdman, The Illuminated Blake, London, 1975, p. 185, the page belonging to Sir Geoffrey Keynes.). In 1796 the design was reissued together with a number of designs from Blake's other books. As Blake later wrote of the first copies of both A Small Book of Designs and the contemporary Large Book of Designs, 'those [works] I printed for Mr. Humphrey are a selection from the different Books of such as could be Printed without the writing...' (letter to Dawson Turner of 9 June 1818). The back of the version of the small print in the Fitzwilliam Museum is inscribed, not by Blake, 'Oh! Flames of Furious Desires' and probably derives from an inscription by Blake himself below the designs; in the present work the paper has been trimmed but in the majority of the designs from the second copy of the Small Book of Designs the designs are surrounded by three framing lines with a line or lines of verse below. (For further information on the physical makeup of the second copy of the Small Book of Designs, see Butlin and Hamlyn, loc. cit., pp. 54-72.).
Blake's technique in his books, a personal development of his own, consisted of printing both text and the outlines of his designs in relief etching. In the books produced early and later in his career the pages were then colored by hand in watercolor, but circa 1794-96 this was replaced by a form of color-printing, probably done as a second operation after the initial monochromatic printing (for an opposing view, see J. Viscomi, Blake and the Idea of the Book, Princeton, 1993, pp. 119-20). In this case however there may well not be any monochromatic printing under the color printing, though the relief-etched plate was used. More than one copy of each design was produced from a single application of the thick colors to the plate, each pull being marked by a thinner application of the pigments. The outlines and details of the design would then be refined in watercolor and in ink, probably applied with the point of a fine brush. In the case of this composition, the version in the first copy of A Small Book of Designs in the British Museum was the first to be printed and this version the second, following the first in the placing of the colors and more or less following it in the application of watercolor and ink outlines. The Fitzwilliam Museum version is thinner in the color printing and the ink outlining is more extensive; the figure's hair is looser and fair in tone rather than tight and dark. The present version of the print is further distinguished in that the figure appears to be female, a feature suggested in some of the copies of the book Urizen but not to be found in either of the other separate prints.
The drawing on the reverse is difficult to make out but is typical of some of Blake's most undefined, rapid sketches. In style it is close to a drawing for the title-page of The Song of Los, 1795 (Butlin, 1981, p. 120, no. 232 verso, pl. 267). It could just possibly be related to the skeletal form on plate 8 of Urizen.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
The design was originally used as an illustration at the top of page 3 of Blake's Urizen, 1794, where it seems to illustrate Los (poetic inspiration) rousing his fires (see, inter alia, D. Erdman, The Illuminated Blake, London, 1975, p. 185, the page belonging to Sir Geoffrey Keynes.). In 1796 the design was reissued together with a number of designs from Blake's other books. As Blake later wrote of the first copies of both A Small Book of Designs and the contemporary Large Book of Designs, 'those [works] I printed for Mr. Humphrey are a selection from the different Books of such as could be Printed without the writing...' (letter to Dawson Turner of 9 June 1818). The back of the version of the small print in the Fitzwilliam Museum is inscribed, not by Blake, 'Oh! Flames of Furious Desires' and probably derives from an inscription by Blake himself below the designs; in the present work the paper has been trimmed but in the majority of the designs from the second copy of the Small Book of Designs the designs are surrounded by three framing lines with a line or lines of verse below. (For further information on the physical makeup of the second copy of the Small Book of Designs, see Butlin and Hamlyn, loc. cit., pp. 54-72.).
Blake's technique in his books, a personal development of his own, consisted of printing both text and the outlines of his designs in relief etching. In the books produced early and later in his career the pages were then colored by hand in watercolor, but circa 1794-96 this was replaced by a form of color-printing, probably done as a second operation after the initial monochromatic printing (for an opposing view, see J. Viscomi, Blake and the Idea of the Book, Princeton, 1993, pp. 119-20). In this case however there may well not be any monochromatic printing under the color printing, though the relief-etched plate was used. More than one copy of each design was produced from a single application of the thick colors to the plate, each pull being marked by a thinner application of the pigments. The outlines and details of the design would then be refined in watercolor and in ink, probably applied with the point of a fine brush. In the case of this composition, the version in the first copy of A Small Book of Designs in the British Museum was the first to be printed and this version the second, following the first in the placing of the colors and more or less following it in the application of watercolor and ink outlines. The Fitzwilliam Museum version is thinner in the color printing and the ink outlining is more extensive; the figure's hair is looser and fair in tone rather than tight and dark. The present version of the print is further distinguished in that the figure appears to be female, a feature suggested in some of the copies of the book Urizen but not to be found in either of the other separate prints.
The drawing on the reverse is difficult to make out but is typical of some of Blake's most undefined, rapid sketches. In style it is close to a drawing for the title-page of The Song of Los, 1795 (Butlin, 1981, p. 120, no. 232 verso, pl. 267). It could just possibly be related to the skeletal form on plate 8 of Urizen.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.