William Blake was an English poet, painter was born November 28, 1757, in London William Blake started writing poems as a boy, many of them inspired by religious visions. Apprenticed to an engraver as a young man, Blake learned skills that allowed him to put his poems and drawings together on etchings, and he began to publish his own work. Throughout his life he survived on small commissions, never gaining much attention from the London art world. His paintings were rejected by the public
Christ as the Redeemer of Man
1808 Pen and watercolour, 496 x 393 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Blake's visionary drawing style is demonstrated in this illustration to Milton's Paradise Lost, III. Christ floats in the air before God the Father, the position of his body referring to his death on the cross. The expressive, outsized hands of his father touch him lightly. Four angels accompany Christ on his way to EEarth. The unremitting movement contains tension. Even in terms of colour the divine realm is divided from the void, in which Satan, armed with a spear, attempts to prevent God's plan of redemption for the world. The scene is characterized by symmetry and repetition, and is not only illuminated by the artist's technique, but is also enlightened spiritually. Author: BLAKE, William Title: Christ as the Redeemer of Man Form: graphics , 1751-1800 , English , religious