William+Blake

William Blake

William Blake is known for his different yet odd style of expressing himself. He was born on November 28, 1757 in Soho, London. He died on August 12, 1827. Like many English writers or artist, his works were not praised very much during his lifetime. It wouldn't be until his death and many years later till his works would bring him fame. During Blake's early life, he went to school until he was ten years old. By then, he had learned to read and write. After he stopped going to school, his mother would teach him and Blake would learn on his own through the Bible and poetry. During his early years, Blake preferred to engrave pictures instead of actually drawing them. His parents took note of this and deiced to enroll him into drawing school where he'd also write some poetry, too. By age 15, Blake began an apprenticeship for engraving, because drawing school was getting to be to expensive. Seven years later, he to study at Royal Academy.

-- Born November 28, 1757, William Blake was a poet, painter, and printmaker. He is now considered a seminal figure in the history of visual arts of the Romantic Age, which is odd considering that his work was greatly unrecognized while he was alive. He was born at 28 Broad Street in Soho, London. He was the third of seven children, two of whom died in infancy. The Bible was an early and profound influence on Blake, an influence that continued throughout his life. When he was a young boy he would have biblical visions. He was known to have had a vision of Ezekiel and a tree full of angles; this had a big impact on most of his work.

He was just a young boy when his talents started to bring him to a further artistic education. When he was ten he was enrolled in Henry Par’s drawing school and at the age of fourteen he was an engraver's apprentice. He was eventually sent to Westminster Abbey where he would draw the tombs and monuments and that is where his love of gothic art had started. Blake fished a seven year apprenticeship at the age of twenty one; afterwards he worked on a few projects. This brought him to the Royal Academy of Arts Schools of design.

In 1782, Blake married Catherine Boucher. At the time she was illiterate, but he taught her how to read and write. The two never had any children. However, Catherine did help Blake with some of the poems that he is most famous for. Blake was able to open up printshop, too. Unfortunately, the shop closed seven years later. This is when William began his own works; in 1783 he published his own sketches and a collection of original poems. In 1784 William attempted to open up a print shop with a friend and former apprentice. Sadly the shop was not affordable, and after seven years it came to an end. During this time William taught his brother Robert to sketch and draw, Robert then fell ill and passed away. At the event of his brothers passing, Blake was said to have witnessed the joyful spirit ascending to the heavens. This had a great impact on his future works.

In later life William slowly started becoming insane, he started with seeing visions of things once in a while. It came to a point where he said his subjects such as imaginary and historical characters were actually sitting for him. Along with these characters he had also claimed his brother Robert's spirit lived with him. He said that Robert was the one who showed him how to illustrate his poems in “illuminated writing.” This was a new technique for Blake.

William Blake died of liver disease in 1827. He was bedridden at the end he continued to sketch until the very last second. He'd been working on his Dante series, and turned to his wife to say, "Stay Kate! Keep just as you are - I will draw your portrait - for you have ever been an angel to me." After finishing, he put his tools away, placed the portrait down, and started singing hymns and verses. He died later that day.

By: Madelyn Rogge