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Daughters of Job 1825 19th Century 15 1/2 in. x 10 3/4 in. (39.37 cm x 27.31 cm) William Blake (London, England, 1757 - 1827, London, England) Object Type: Print Medium and Support: engraving Credit Line: Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection: Gift of Fred W. Allsopp. 1937.023 Accession Number: 1937.023 Comments: The late eighteenth-early nineteenth century English painter and engraver William Blake was a poet, visionary and mystic who earnestly believed, among other things, that he lived in an intimate relationship with the supernatural, that he chatted with the prophet Ezekiel at dinner, that angels spoke to him from the branches of trees, and that he could communicate with the souls of animals and insects. He was religious and devout, but in a strangely private and metaphysical way that is often revealed in his pictures. All of Blake's art correlates to sources in literature: most often his own poems, Dante, Milton, and the Bible. In 1825, two years before his death, he produced a series of engravings on the Old Testament story of Job. The Daughters of Job derives specifically from the 42nd and final chapter in which Job is now restored to health, family, and property after a long period of suffering and personal misfortune. Blake's illustration, which combines written text with a central scene, shows father Job's benediction of inheritance to three fair daughters. Historically this would have been most unusual in that inheritance was awarded to male heirs only (and Job did have sons as well), but obviously Job holds his daughters in particular favor. The three young women incline toward their father in such a way as to form a pyramidal grouping that not only speaks of the family's closeness, but also inherently formal and dignified in its symmetry. The wall panels behind the figures turbulently depict Job's earlier ordeals. Blake employs a swirling, sinewy line in this and most other of his renderings to impart an air of mystery and transcendent reality. The surrounding embellishment includes at the lower corners harp and lute, mentioned in the Bible as instruments of praise and thanksgiving to God. Source: Art and Storytelling, William T. Henning, former curator, Arkansas Arts Center, 1990

Keywords:

• British
• print
• narrative

Portfolio List
This object is a member of the following portfolios (click any portfolio name to view all objects in that portfolio):

• Old Master Prints
• Introduction to Collection: Prints

Keywords:

• Artist:European:British
• Class:Fine Arts:print
• Subject:narrative

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