The engraver, painter and point William Blake (1757-1827) was one of the most extraordinary figures of the Romantic period. AS child he claimed to have seen a tree filled with angels, ‘bespangling every bough like stars’. Blake went on to develop an intensely person art which drew upon a range of literary, mythical and biblical sources to expound a unique and mysterious vision. Borne in London, Blake was first apprenticed to an engraver. And next. Blake made studies of London churches before studying briefly at the Royal Academy Schools. Here, however he was not interested in painting in oil, neither was he concerned with the academic work of sir Joshu Reynolds or what the academy stood for. A supporter of the French and the American revolutions, Blake turned his back on organized religion, believing that only artists were in touch with divine inspiration. In every Way, Blake was and archetypal Romantic — individualistic, solitary, and out of step with the rational thinking that had become so influential in the second part of the 18th century. Imagination and creative process were & what interested him; his art was means to express the very intense nature of his revelatory experiences.
