Songs of Experience: A Little Boy Lost
Original title: Songs of Experience: A Little Boy Lost
kurzbeschreibung
This sheet belongs to William Blake's Songs of Experience and comes from a later printing made around 1825. It was produced by relief etching in orange-brown ink and then coloured by hand with watercolour and shell gold. The plate carries the text of the poem A Little Boy Lost, with a scene beneath it in which a boy is surrounded by two adults.
Description
Above the verse lines sits the title A Little Boy Lost, followed by the English poem. In the lower part, a small boy in a blue garment lies on the ground while two adults in darker clothing close in around him. Flames run from the background to the right edge of the sheet. Green tendrils frame the whole arrangement.
Context
The sheet forms part of Blake's double cycle Songs of Innocence and of Experience, which sets opposing states of the soul against one another. A Little Boy Lost takes aim at the rigid morality of the church and at the suppression of childhood innocence. This particular printing dates from around 1825, decades after the first publication of 1794, and documents Blake's later return to the motif.
Impact
The warm palette of orange and brown creates an oppressive, almost glowing atmosphere that the flames in the background take up. Because of the hand-colouring, the sheet feels intimate and nearly fragile, a contrast to its grim subject.
Technique
In relief etching the printing lines are left standing while the non-printing areas are bitten away. The sheet was printed in orange-brown ink and afterwards coloured by hand with watercolour and shell gold. This combination of printing and hand-painting is characteristic of Blake's illuminated prints.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)