William Blake was not only an artist he was also a writer and a poet. Renowned not only for his works of art and paintings he is also famous for perhaps being eccentric, insane and even demented. Blake often lived a life of poverty and had few patrons throughout his life and career. His work was heavily influenced by the ideas of good and evil and the Romantic poets. Blake was heavily influenced by Durer and Michelangelo and these influences can be seen throughout the apocalyptic scenes he created throughout his career as well as his attempts at light and texture. Blake began his career as an engraver and was trained at the Royal Academy were he rejected his teachings and left under the thought that the intellectual atmosphere was to stifling.
His illustrations often depict an acute interest in the medieval art and the human anatomy. He often tapped into his broad imagination to create visions of wild creatures and demons perhaps of the spiritual realm. In 1821 finished his work on the Book of Job in 1825, commissioned by his last patron John Linnell of which I will be focusing. Specifically Naked came I out of my mothers womb & Naked shall I return thither The Lord gave & the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord....and smote Job with sore Boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head”. In the story of Job God allows Satan to strike Job with a variety of afflictions to prove that Job loves God most of all and will not curse His name. And through all of the terrible things God allows to happen to Job he does not curse Gods name or turn away from him even though his life is shattered and broken and he wants to die.
The image depicted by Blake is one in which Job is being inflicted with boils by Satan himself who has red bat wings and appears to be almost casting a spell on Job who he consequently is standing on his chest which in my opinion is an accurate metaphor and great depiction of oppression. Blake used a lot of symbolism in his work one of the most notable instances is in the use of right and left limbs in figures to represent good on the right limbs of figures and evil on the left. In the image of Satan Smiting Job with Boils Satan is striking him with his left hand. This is happening through a jar of some type and pouring out onto job in what looks like wind almost blowing onto him. On the left a white figure is weeping this may be God looking on or Job himself mourning about his misfortune. The image is very saturated in color and used a lot of texture. The works of Blake appear to me to reflect Romanticism and show a true escapist look by being very inwardly focused and show Blake's own emotional fantastic and novelistic approach. Blake's
Merriman, C. D. "William Blake." - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss. Jalic Inc., 2006. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.online-literature.com/blake/>.
"Illustrations to the Book of Job, the Butts Set." Illustrations to the Book of Job (c. 1805-06 and C. 1821-27 C. 1805-06 (objects 1-16, 18-19, 21) and C. 1821-27 (objects 17, 20) ): Electronic Edition. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=but550>.
This is a really fascinating piece and I appreciate your descriptions in this essay. I think that the subject matter is so strong and captivating and it makes looking at this piece that much more interesting. The deep saturation and hard lines also are jarring and you mentioned some things I would not have known just by looking at this piece. If the details were more visible, this may look similar to a tinted photograph. Great choice
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected this work to the emotion and fantastic subject matter that was prevalent in Romantic art. Did you notice that Timothy (in a different group in our class) also wrote his post on Blake's illustrations from the Book of Job? You might want to check out his post for fun:
ReplyDeletehttp://timothyspencer.blogspot.com/2012/02/william-blakes-illustrations-of-book-of.html
-Prof. Bowen
William Blake one of my favorite poets. I must say I find it somewhat oxymoronic that Blake is considered a Romantic. I am saying this not based on the actual era but more on what we usually think of when we think romantic. Yet many artists from the romantic era are dark, and foreboding, in their depictions of the horrors of the world around them and what they think might await them. You can definitely see the connection to Durer and I like your mention of how oppressing the image becomes with the Satan figure standing on the Job figures chest. I was rather excited to see a Blake write up I wanted to but my heart loves Rococo so had to go with that.
ReplyDeleteI really like this piece! It is so full of emotion and the use of dark colors make it have a dark feel to it. William Blake’s pieces are very interesting, and I think that Blake being a writer and a poet helps gives us (as viewers) a different perspective on art. The depiction of the human body, use colors, and underlying message really makes this pieces very interesting and really enjoyable to look at. I also really enjoyed reading your blog post.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is incredibly enthralling. I can tell that there is evil happening without knowing the story, but your description was helpful to know the story. I can actually see some of his techniques that would have come from his engraving skills, in the lines that you see in the "cape" behind Satan and the rays of the sun. I enjoyed this work and your description of it.
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