Songs of Innocence: The Ecchoing Green (second plate)
Original title: Songs of Innocence: The Ecchoing Green (second plate)
kurzbeschreibung
This plate belongs to William Blake's illustrated poem collection 'Songs of Innocence' of 1789 and was printed around 1825 as a relief etching with subsequent hand-coloring. It shows a crowd of people beneath a tree, gathering around a man armed with a staff, framed by ornamental tendrils and the text of the poem.
Description
Brightly colored garments in blue, red and yellow surround a man holding a staff, and several of the figures wear head coverings. A landscape with a tree forms the backdrop, its branches reaching forward into the foreground. Stylized vines and leaves line the sides, while the poem's text runs across the top of the image. Warm orange and brown tones dominate the coloring, heightened by shell gold and watercolor under even illumination.
Context
The 'Songs of Innocence' grew out of Blake's larger project of illuminated printing, in which text and image were united on a single copper plate. The second plate of 'The Ecchoing Green' was reprinted around 1825 for a later edition and colored by hand. The poem circles around the cycle of childhood and old age, set within a rural idyll.
Impact
Delicate hand-coloring meets the strong relief etching, producing a lively, almost meditative mood. Warm colors and the ornamental border draw the eye toward the group of figures and the text, bringing out the unity of picture and poetry.
Technique
Blake used the relief etching method he developed himself: lines and surfaces remain raised while the non-printing areas are etched away. Printing was done in orange-brown ink, followed by hand-coloring with watercolors and shell gold, so that each copy takes on its own character.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)