William Blake

A major figure of the Romantic Movement, the British artist William Blake (1757-1827) was at once a painter, designer, engraver, and poet. He devoted himself to the illustration of his literary works, and his texts developed following the lines of his engravings and fantastic drawings, becoming veritable illuminated manuscripts. Inspired by biblical and prophetical themes (Proverbs of Hell, The Everlasting Gospel and The Gates of Paradise), Blake’s art subtly combines the modernity of his time and of the Romantic Revolution with the classicism of the themes that he explored.

Gifted with unequalled imagination and originality, the artist played with the diversity of his media in order to better externalise the demons that haunted him, as well as to plunge the viewer or reader into a profound melancholy.

In this monograph, Osbert Burdett sheds light on the art and life of this extraordinary artist.

The Author
The art critic Osbert Burdett is a specialist in British art of the end of the 19th century, in particular that of William Blake. His writings such as The Beardsley Period: an Essay in Perspective and William Blake offer the reader the chance to rediscover the remarkable creations of these artists and the huge impact of their audacity and modernity on English art.