William Blake
1757-1827
The Grave
1806
20 3/8 x 14 1/4 inches (518 x 362 mm)
Pencil on paper.
2001.14
Gift of Gertrude Weyhe Dennis in honor of Charles Ryskamp.
Notes
This sheet is the preliminary drawing for the rejected title page of Robert Blair's "The Grave", London, 1808. This drawing relates to another more finished drawing (reproduced in Geoffrey Keynes, Bibliography of William Blake, New York, 1921, facing page 219). The drawing on the verso may also be related.
Cromek commissioned Blake to make forty drawings for Blair's poem, proposing to have twenty of them engraved. In the end only twelve were actually engraved and, although Blake had expected to do the engraving himself, Schiavonetti did the work.
Cromek commissioned Blake to make forty drawings for Blair's poem, proposing to have twenty of them engraved. In the end only twelve were actually engraved and, although Blake had expected to do the engraving himself, Schiavonetti did the work.
Associated names
Dennis, Gertrude W., former owner.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
Department