Wednesday, May 28, 2014

William Blake Paintings

By Darren Hartley


William Blake paintings rank among the most original visual arts of the Romantic era. William first studied art as boy, at the drawing academy of Henry Pars. He served a five year apprenticeship with the commercial engraver James Basire before entering the Royal Academy School as an engraver at the age of twenty-two.

The early William Blake paintings, including Nature Revolves, but Man Advances, were a result of his private study of medieval and Renaissance art. William sought to emulate the example of artists such as Raphael, Michaelangelo and Durer. The objective was to produce timeless, Gothic art, infused with Christian spirituality and created with poetic genius.

A series of huge color prints constituted the William Blake paintings of the 1790s. They were know for their massiveness and iconic designs. Considered to be William's most ambitious work as an artist, the subjects of the 12 known designs, function as pairs. The sources of the subjects included the Bible, Michaelangelo, Milton and Newton.

Fresco was how the technique used in William Blake paintings was described. It is a form of monotype and a mixture of oil and tempera paints with chalks. It was on a flat surface that the designs were painted. Among the surfaces William used were copperplates and millboards. By finishing the design in ink and watercolour, Blake left a mark of rareness and uniqueness on each impression.

From 1799 to 1809, William Blake paintings consisted of a series of Bible illustrations that included about 50 tempera paintings and more than 80 watercolors. The focus of these illustrations was Old Testament prefigurations of Christ, the life of Christ and apocalyptic subjects from the Book of Revelation.

The development of William Blake paintings geared towards an inward look on man's imagination. William painted on journeys that the mind took, not the body. Dante's books were another source of ideas for William, other than his own fertile mind, that proved to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration.




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