Amajor 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.