William Blake
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- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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William Blake
by James Deville
plaster cast of head, published 1823
11 3/4 in. x 7 1/8 in. (297 mm x 180 mm) overall
Purchased, 1918
Primary Collection
NPG 1809
On display in Room 32 on Floor 1 at the National Portrait Gallery
Sitterback to top
- William Blake (1757-1827), Visionary poet and painter. Sitter in 10 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 5 portraits.
Artistback to top
- James Deville (1776-1846), Sculptor. Artist or producer associated with 5 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Deville was a sculptor and phrenologist employed as a young assistant by Joseph Nollekens from whom no doubt he learned the technique of taking life-masks with the help of straws to prevent suffocation. The mask was taken when Blake was aged sixty-five so that the phrenologist could have a cast of Blake's head 'as representative of the imaginative faculty'. It failed however to please his family and friends; George Richmond said that the unnatural severity of the mouth was caused by the discomforture of the process 'as the plaster pulled out a quantity of his hair'.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Holmes, Richard, The Romantic Poets and Their Circle, 2013, p. 29
- Holmes, Richard, Insights: The Romantic Poets and Their Circle, 2005, p. 21
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 60
- Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 50
Events of 1823back to top
Current affairs
Gaols Act is passed to build new prisons, raise standards in old ones and institute regular inspections. It is prompted by the vigorous campaigning of reformers such as Elizabeth Fry, leader of the Ladies Association for the Improvement of Female Prisoners in Newgate Prison.Anti-Slavery Committee is founded in London.
Art and science
Architect, Robert Smirke begins construction of the British Museum.Thomas Wakley founds The Lancet, the first weekly medical journal and important mouthpiece of medical reform.
Charles Babbage begins work on the first calculating machine.
Charles Macintosh invents waterproof fabric.
International
Catholic Association is founded by Daniel O'Connell in Ireland in an attempt to mobilise and politicise the entire Irish Catholic population in a systematic challenge to the ruling Protestant ascendancy.War breaks out between France and Spain.
English missionary John Smith died in prison having been sentenced to be hanged for failing to take up arms against slaves in Demerara.
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Mieke Lanen-Vos
04 January 2016, 13:57
this work had a great impact on Antony Gormley: The naked sculptor (Omnibus BBC 2000)
Kenneth Jay
28 November 2017, 00:54
Only a small correction regarding age. As Deville published the mask in August 1823, Blake, who was born in November 1757, would have been 65, not 56 as you indicate above. Unless, for some reason not explained, Deville waited nine years before publishing it.