The Counsellor, King, Warrior, Mother & Child in the Tomb, from "The Grave," a Poem by Robert Blair
Original title: The Counsellor, King, Warrior, Mother & Child in the Tomb, from "The Grave," a Poem by Robert Blair
kurzbeschreibung
Unlike the other plates in William Blake's series after Robert Blair's poem "The Grave", this engraving of March 1, 1813 does not gather the mourners at the tomb but the dead themselves: a group of figures lies in the sarcophagus, bringing life's transience directly before the eye.
Description
Four figures rest in the open sarcophagus — a crowned woman, two bearded men with swords, one of them holding a child on his lap. The upper edge of the picture is formed by Gothic architecture with a window in which a swan appears. Traditional garments mark the figures as historical or mythical characters; the arrangement is symmetrical, the rendering monochrome, the internal drawing rich in contrast.
Context
As an illustration to Robert Blair's "The Grave", first published in 1743, the sheet belongs to a phase in which Blake produced book illustrations for numerous literary works. The engraving was published by Cromek, who also issued other plates in this series.
Impact
Monumental figures and Gothic architecture condense into a solemn, reflective mood. Symmetry and strong contrasts heighten the drama and direct the gaze to the transience of earthly things.
Technique
The motif is realized as an etching: the lines are bitten into a copper plate and then printed. Sumptuously worked details and hard light-dark oppositions attest to Blake's skill in this process. The plate measures 14.3 x 22.7 cm, the sheet 21 x 26 cm.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)