Illustrations of The Book of Job, ii/ii

Artist William Blake (English | British, 1757-1827)

Date1825

DimensionsSheet: approx. 17 × 13 in. (43.2 × 33 cm)

MediumLine Engravings

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1943.5A-V

Not on View

Label TextWilliam Blake, mystic, poet, professional engraver, and creative genius, was a complex personality. An admirer of Milton, Shakespeare, and the Old Testament prophets, he developed his own personal symbolism in his art and writing. The Book of Job is not a mere set of illustrations of a Biblical account. It is Blake’s vision of truth, deeply involved in his mystical system of interpretation. Blake felt the Bible had to be spiritually discerned to be understood, and the Book of Job demanded pictorial expression. Poverty-stricken and working in rooms in Fountain Court, The Strand, London, Blake produced original, dramatic etchings as a poem of great intensity. He had failed at this point in his life, he thought, in his efforts to gain an understanding public. Yet he labored on with the project begun in October 1793, until he completed it 32 years later. In a letter, Blake declared The Book of Job an “allegory addressed to the intellectual powers, while it is altogether hidden from corporeal understanding, is my definition of the most sublime poetry.”Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.