Letters, (E 703)
"Mr [George] Cumberland, Bishopsgate,
Windsor Great Park
Hercules Buildings, Lambeth. Augst 26. 1799
Dear Cumberland
...
Pray let me intreat you to persevere in your Designing it is
the only source of Pleasure all your other pleasures depend
upon It. It is the Tree Your Pleasures are the Fruit. Your
Inventions of Intellectual Visions are the Stamina of every thing
you value. Go on if not for your own sake yet for ours who love
& admire your works. but above all For the Sake of the Arts.
Do
not throw aside for any long time the honour intended you by
Nature to revive the Greek workmanship. I study your outlines as
usual just as if they were antiques. As to Myself about whom you
are so kindly Interested. I
live by Miracle. I am Painting small Pictures from the Bible.
For as to Engraving in which art I cannot reproach myself with
any neglect yet I am laid by in a corner as if I did not Exist
&
Since my Youngs Night Thoughts have been publishd Even Johnson
&
Fuseli have discarded my Graver. But as I know that He who Works
& has his health cannot starve. I laugh at Fortune & Go on
&
on. I think I foresee better Things than I have ever seen. My
Work pleases my employer & I have an order for Fifty small
Pictures at One Guinea each which is Something better than mere
copying after another artist. But above all I feel myself happy
& contented let what will come having passed now near twenty
years in ups & downs I am used to them & perhaps a little
practise in them may turn out to benefit. It is now Exactly
Twenty years since I was upon the ocean of business & Tho I
laugh
at Fortune I am perswaded that She Alone is the Governor of
Worldly Riches. & when it is Fit She will call on me till then
I
wait with Patience in hopes that She is busied among my Friends.
With Mine & My Wifes best compliments to Mrs Cumberland
I remain
Yours sincerely
WILLm BLAKE"
One of the tempera paintings which Blake make for Thomas Butts in
1799 is a portrayal of the Last Supper. Blake created a dramatic
image of Jesus and the twelve disciples involved in a scene where
each displays his individual emotions at this critical juncture.
Jesus himself, surrounded by the radiance, looks beyond his
present circumstances to a future that is to be revealed. His hand
gesture seems to be that of reluctant acceptance.
Gathered around Jesus are the twelve men whom he chose as his
special companions. Each seems to be in his own separate world:
praying, contemplating the past or future, or meditating on the
strange events which have taken place and where they might lead.
Beside Jesus sits 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' appearing in
Blake's portrayal to assume feminine characteristics. In the
foreground to the left there might be Peter already traumatised by
knowing he would be tempted to deny his Lord. To his right the two
figures deep in discussion may be continuing their earlier discussion about who would be greatest in the kingdom. Most easily
recognised is Judas to the right counting the coins he had
accepted to betray Jesus to the authorities. Each disciple
struggles with his own issues including doubts, awe,
disappointment, fears and anticipation of possible outcomes.
National Gallery Washington
1799
Rosenwald Collection
A Descriptive Catalog, (E 543)
"Mr. B. has done, as all
the ancients did, and as all the moderns, who are worthy of fame,
given the historical fact in its poetical vigour; so as it always
happens, and not in that dull way that some Historians pretend,
who being weakly organized themselves, cannot see either miracle
or prodigy; all is to them a dull round of probabilities and
possibilities; but the history of all times and places, is
nothing else but improbabilities and impossibilities; what we
should say, was impossible if we did not see it always before our
eyes."
Jerusalem
, Plate 13, (E 157)
"And all that has existed in the space of six thousand years:
Permanent, & not lost not lost nor vanishd, & every little
act,
Word, work, & wish, that has existed, all remaining still
In those Churches ever consuming & ever building by the
Spectres
Of all the inhabitants of Earth wailing to be Created:
Shadowy to those who dwell not in them, meer possibilities:
But to those who enter into them they seem the only substances
For every thing exists & not one sigh nor smile nor tear,
Plate 14
One hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away."
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