BLAKE & DREAMS 3

  Katharine of Aragon was the first wife of Henry VIII of England. He attempted to have the marriage annuled in order to marry Anne Boleyn. When the Pope refused to grant an annulment, a schism developed between England and the Catholic Church. Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle on 7 January 1536.

Fitzwilliam Museum

Queen Katharine Drean

circa 1783 to 1790

Blake's picture titled Queen Katharine's Dream is an illustration to lines from William Shakespeare's play Henry VII. Blake choose to illustrate lines from the play which echo his own feelings. As Katharine of Aragon the first wife of Henry lies on her deathbed she reports a dream which she had of the glorious world which awaited her.

Henry VIII , Scene IV
"KATHARINE
No? Saw you not, even now, a blessed troop
Invite me to a banquet; whose bright faces
Cast thousand beams upon me, like the sun?
They promised me eternal happiness;
And brought me garlands, Griffith, which I feel
I am not worthy yet to wear: I shall, assuredly.
GRIFFITH
I am most joyful, madam, such good dreams
Possess your fancy."

Blake painted illustrations for this scene at least three times. A earliest image of the scene resides in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and is dated between 1783 and 1790. Look for motifs from Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Blake's lithograph of Enoch, and Plate 33 (37) of Jerusalem in this painting. Shown here are the later images.

British Museum, London (dated 1809).................National Gallery, Washington

                                                                              (dated 1825)

LARGE COLOR PRINTS 12

Yale Center for British Art

Large Color Printed Drawings

Pity

LARGE COLOR PRINTS 12

BLAKE'S PITY

IMAGE OF PITY

IMAGE OF PITY ii

Letters, To Flaxman, (E 707)
"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood & shewd me his face Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years gave me his hand"

It is not known if this vision which goes by the name Pity was stimulated by reading words in Act I, Scene 7 of Shakespeare's Macbeth but it may have been. Blake may have resonated to Shakespeare's description of pity without associating it in his image with 'the horrid deed' and 'vaulting ambition' described in Shakespeare's passage.

Macbeth , Act 1, Scene 7
"... He's here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other."

The idea of pity was a recurring theme in Blake's poetry. In the Book of Urizen Los first feels pity for Urizen's suffering. The dividing which follows is like the dividing which followed the initial dividing in Genesis when God divided Heaven from Earth.

Genesis 1

[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
[5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
[6] And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
[7] And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
[8] And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
[9] And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
[10] And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Urizen, Plate 13, (E 77) 

6. Los wept obscur'd with mourning:
His bosom earthquak'd with sighs;
He saw Urizen deadly black,                     
In his chains bound, & Pity began,

7. In anguish dividing & dividing
For pity divides the soul
In pangs eternity on eternity
Life in cataracts pourd down his cliffs         
The void shrunk the lymph into Nerves
Wand'ring wide on the bosom of night
And left a round globe of blood
Trembling upon the Void"

In Milton pity is linked with love and compassion. The pity which is the 'garment of God' urges patience not wrath. God has provided Beulah as a protection from the stresses on Eden for the female. There she may learn to express the pity and compassion which is often lacking in her.

Milton, Plate 18 [20], (E 111)

"Orc answerd. Take not the Human Form O loveliest. Take not
Terror upon thee! Behold how I am & tremble lest thou also
Consume in my Consummation; but thou maist take a Form
Female & lovely, that cannot consume in Mans consummation
Wherefore dost thou Create & Weave this Satan for a Covering[?]  
When thou attemptest to put on the Human Form, my wrath  

Burns to the top of heaven against thee in Jealousy & Fear.
Then I rend thee asunder, then I howl over thy clay & ashes
When wilt thou put on the Female Form as in times of old
With a Garment of Pity & Compassion like the Garment of God      
His garments are long sufferings for the Children of Men
Jerusalem is his Garment & not thy Covering Cherub O lovely
Shadow of my delight who wanderest seeking for the prey."

Milton, Plate 25 [27], (E 122) 

"Go forth Reapers with rejoicing. you sowed in tears
But the time of your refreshing cometh, only a little moment     
Still abstain from pleasure & rest, in the labours of eternity
And you shall Reap the whole Earth, from Pole to Pole! from Sea to Sea
Begining at Jerusalems Inner Court, Lambeth ruin'd and given
To the detestable Gods of Priam, to Apollo: and at the Asylum
Given to Hercules, who labour in Tirzahs Looms for bread    
Who set Pleasure against Duty: who Create Olympic crowns
To make Learning a burden & the Work of the Holy Spirit: Strife.
T[o] Thor & cruel Odin who first reard the Polar Caves 

Lambeth mourns calling Jerusalem. she weeps & looks abroad
For the Lords coming, that Jerusalem may overspread all Nations  
Crave not for the mortal & perishing delights, but leave them
To the weak, and pity the weak as your infant care; Break not
Forth in your wrath lest you also are vegetated by Tirzah
Wait till the Judgement is past, till the Creation is consumed
And then rush forward with me into the glorious spiritual    
Vegetation; the Supper of the Lamb & his Bride; and the
Awaking of Albion our friend and ancient companion.

So Los spoke. But lightnings of discontent broke on all sides round
And murmurs of thunder rolling heavy long & loud over the mountains
While Los calld his Sons around him to the Harvest & the Vintage."

Milton, Plate 30 [33], (E 129

"Beulah is evermore Created around Eternity; appearing
To the Inhabitants of Eden, around them on all sides.
But Beulah to its Inhabitants appears within each district       
As the beloved infant in his mothers bosom round incircled
With arms of love & pity & sweet compassion. But to
The Sons of Eden the moony habitations of Beulah,
Are from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant Rest.

And it is thus Created. Lo the Eternal Great Humanity            
To whom be Glory & Dominion Evermore Amen
Walks among all his awful Family seen in every face
As the breath of the Almighty. such are the words of man to man
In the great Wars of Eternity, in fury of Poetic Inspiration,
To build the Universe stupendous: Mental forms Creating" 

_________________________

In William Blake's Circle of Destiny, Milton O Percival makes these comments:

"Los's feminine self is Enitharmon. She is the spiritual garment of man in the Generative world, being in this respect the counterpart of Jerusalem in Eden. Now the spiritual clothing which Los desires in a troubled world is pity. But true pity, as we have seen in the discussion of Luvah and Vala, is imaginative and spontaneous, not selfish and rational...She is in all things the outer aspect of the spiritual world of which he is the impelling spirit.  

...

For a short, resplendent period Los finds her tractable. In contrition for her selfish past she weaves the 'web of life' in the looms of Cathedron. This is the new Jerusalem toward which Los has aspired. Pity has been achieved. But this period of enlightenment soon declines, and Enitharmon sinks with Los into the lethargy of the eighteen Christian centuries. During these centuries Christianity ceases to be a thing of the spirit, retaining only its Christian name. This is the 'sleep' of Enitharmon - the triumph of the recalcitrant female emotions as they are personified in Vala-Rahab."

(Page 40,41)

 

 

ILLUSTRATING SHAKESPEARE 2

British Museum 
Watercolor 1809
As if an Angel Dropped from the clouds

"but Shakespeare in riper years

gave me his hand"

[Letter to Flaxman, E 707]

With his wide range of interests and knowledge Blake did not confine himself to illustrating/interpreting the bible. For Rev Joseph Thomas, who became an enthusiastic collector of Blake's work, he created this watercolor from Shakespeare's Henry IV. It was included in Thomas' copy of the second folio of Shakespeare's plays.

These are lines from Part 1, Act IV which Blake illustrated:
"All furnished, all in arms,
All plumed like estridges that with the wind
Baited like eagles having lately bathed,
Glittering in golden coats like images,
As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer,
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
I saw young Harry with his beaver on,

His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly armed
Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury
And vaulted with such ease into his seat
As if an angel dropped down from the clouds,
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus

And witch the world with noble horsemanship."

This scene portrayed a moment of transformation for young Hal. On the battlefield his prowess was realized as fitting him for his future role as king. Blake used the horse Pegasus, and the rising sun to symbolize the new energy with which the young prince had been imbued. The momentous event was recorded by a heavenly scribe. To be fully prepared the Prince must then secure the horse with the rope he held.

An earlier lost fresco treatment of this subject was included in Blake's exhibit of 1809 for which the Descriptive Catalogue was written:

Descriptive Catalogue, (E 545)

                       "NUMBER VI.
  A Spirit vaulting from a cloud to turn and wind a fiery
Pegasus--Shakspeare.  The horse of Intellect is leaping from the
cliffs of Memory and Reasoning; it is a barren Rock: it is also
called the Barren Waste of Locke and Newton.

THIS Picture was done many years ago, and was one of the first
Mr. B. ever did in Fresco; fortunately or rather providentially
he left it unblotted and unblurred, although molested continually
by blotting and blurring demons; but he was also compelled to
leave it unfinished for reasons that will be shewn in the following."

Milton, Plate 1, (E 95)
"Shakspeare & Milton were
both curbd by the general malady & infection from the silly Greek
& Latin slaves of the Sword.

Descriptive Catalogue, (E 534)
 "For the Host who follows this group, and holds the center 
of the cavalcade, is a first rate character, and his jokes are 
no trifles; they are always, though uttered with audacity, and
equally free with the Lord and the Peasant, they are always
substantially and weightily expressive of knowledge and
experience; Henry Baillie, the keeper of the greatest Inn, of 
the greatest City; for such was the Tabarde Inn in Southwark, 
near London: our Host was also a leader of the age.
By way of illustration, I instance Shakspeare's Witches in
Macbeth.  Those who dress them for the stage, consider
them as wretched old women, and not as Shakspeare intended, the
Goddesses of Destiny; this shews how Chaucer has been
misunderstood in his sublime work.  Shakspeare's Fairies also 
are the rulers of the vegetable world, and so are Chaucer's; 
let them be so considered, and then the poet will be understood, 
and not else.

---

Here is a quote from the source of my information:
Chantelle L. MacPhee (2002) "All the World's a Stage": William Blake and William Shakespeare. PhD thesis.

"Joseph Thomas commissioned this illustration from Blake for his copy of the second folio of Shakespeare's plays. The inspiration for the picture comes from 1 Henry IV 4.1.107-110, where Sir Richard Vernon at the Battle of Shrewsbury comments on the sudden transformation of Prince Hal into a soldier who vaulted with such ease into his seat As if an angel [dropp' d] down from the clouds To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus And witch the world with noble horsemanship. 

Prince Hal's transformation on the battlefield not only confirms his military prowess, but his intellectual prowess as well. The illustration's suggestion of the "dawn of a new day" and Pegasus's reaction in the picture space suggest rebirth, regeneration and the male figure's stance suggests final acceptance of his future role as King of England."

.

ILLUSTRATING SHAKESPEARE

Reposted from October 2011.

Othello and Desdemona
Dated about 1780
from Thomas Butts collection
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
acquired 1890

In the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston is a group of Blake's illustrations to Shakespeare which are said to have been painted around 1780. Each picture is a close-up portrait of one or two characters in a play of Shakespeare. The pictures were later in Thomas Butts' collection although the estimated date of production is years before Butts is known to have been purchasing Blake's art.

In 1779 Blake had completed his apprenticeship as an engraver with Basire. He was enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools and was seeking to establish himself as a painter as well as an engraver. The Shakespeare pictures are conventional subjects painted in a conventional style, far from the subject matter and methods of production Blake was to employ as he matured.

Here are more of Blake's illustrations for Shakespeare's plays in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston:
Lear and Cordelia

Cordelia and Sleeping Lear

Lear Grasping a Sword

Falstaff and Prince Hal

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Juliet Asleep
.

ILLUSTRATING SHAKESPEARE

Othello and Desdemona
Dated about 1780
from Thomas Butts collection
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
acquired 1890

In the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston is a group of Blake's illustrations to Shakespeare which are said to have been painted around 1780. Each picture is a close-up portrait of one or two characters in a play of Shakespeare. The pictures were later in Thomas Butts' collection although the estimated date of production is years before Butts is known to have been purchasing Blake's art.

In 1779 Blake had completed his apprenticeship as an engraver with Basire. He was enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools and was seeking to establish himself as a painter as well as an engraver. The Shakespeare pictures are conventional subjects painted in a conventional style, far from the subject matter and methods of production Blake was to employ as he matured.

Here are more of Blake's illustrations for Shakespeare's plays in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston:
Lear and Cordelia

Cordelia and Sleeping Lear

Lear Grasping a Sword

Falstaff and Prince Hal

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Juliet Asleep
.