This hideous head of a man howling in torment is also known as "Head of a Damned Soul in Dante's Inferno." Impressions of the print are very rare—only five known proofs of a single state are extant—and the general lack of lettering on known examples suggests that the print was never properly published.
Blake likely executed this large-scale print ca. 1790 as an experiment to entertain his friend Henry Fuseli. This copy once belonged to the great Blake scholar Sir Geoffrey Keynes (1887–1982), who gave it to his friend Charles Ryskamp.
I. Engravings
William Blake was tutored by his mother, given drawing lessons at the age of ten, and at fifteen apprenticed to James Basire, one of the most prominent engravers of the day. Seven years later, when the apprenticeship was complete, Blake was admitted to study at the Royal Academy. Because of this solid instruction, he was admired for his craftsmanship and often identified as "Mr. Blake, the engraver." Throughout his life, he maintained that engraving was a true art form: "Painting is Drawing on Canvas & Engraving is drawing on Copper & Nothing Else." Blake's prints demonstrate his strong commitment to line, developed through Basire and enhanced by his own creativity. Fortunately his engraver's training would support him, though not well, for the remainder of his life. At forty-six, he wrote, "I curse & bless Engraving alternately because it takes so much time & is so untractable, tho capable of such beauty & perfection."