A beautifully illustrated book that explores William Blake's relationship with Europe against a backdrop of political turmoil.
Responding to revolution and war in Europe, enslavement and exploitation in European colonies, and repression and reaction at home in Britain, William Blake (1757–1827) produced an astonishing body of work that combined criticism of the contemporary world with a vision for universal redemption.
Blake has always been seen as a distinctly English figure but, in reality, his art at all periods of his career is profoundly involved with Europe, as a source of his images and as a vision of the past, present and future of humanity. This richly illustrated book, published alongside an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, explores the vital ingredients of Blake’s work and draws parallels with the ambitions of his artist contemporaries in Europe, most notably the German artist Philipp Otto Runge. In doing so the editors and contributors show that Blake was not alone in looking to art to build the world anew in the face of shattering political crises.
Volume editor:
David Bindman (University College London),
Esther Chadwick (Courtauld Institute)
Imprint: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 25mm,
Width: 25mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781781301272
ISBN 10: 1781301271
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 04 June 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Directors’ Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Editorial Note Introduction: Blake, Runge and Visionary Art in Europe c.1800 - Esther Chadwick Blake, Time and the Present Moment - Sarah Haggarty - Blake and his Artist Contemporaries PART I: The Past: Antiquity and the Gothic Learning From the Past - John Flaxman - Blake and Fuseli - Blake and Dante - Classics vs Gothic PART II: The Present: Europe in Flames Blake’s Continental Prophecies: Apocalypse and Revolution - David Bindman - Mind Forg’d Manacles: Slavery and Freedom - French Revolution and Apocalypse - The World as Prison - Images of Redemption PART III: The Future: Spiritual Renewal Runge’s Times - Joseph Leo Koerner ‘Michael Angelo could not have done better’: Dionysius Andreas Freher and the Visual Transmission of German Mysticism in Eighteenth-Century England - Cecilia Muratori Henry Crabb Robinson, William Blake, and Anglo-German Cultural Relations - James Vigus - Blake’s New Religious Style - Jacob Böhme - Philipp Otto Runge: Times of Day Romantic Nationalism - William Vaughan - Romantic Nationalism Notes Works Cited Picture Credits Index
David Bindman is Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at UCL and is a leading expert on Blake. Esther Chadwick is Lecturer in Art History at the Courtauld Institute and a specialist in eighteenth-century British art.
