1 / 1

download image
This image is in the public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. Learn more about our image policies.

William Blake

The Death of Saint Joseph, 1803

Not on View

Medium

watercolor, graphite, and charcoal on wove paper

Dimensions

overall: 37.6 x 35.4 cm (14 13/16 x 13 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Louisa C. Duemling, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art

Catalogue Raisonné

Butlin 1981, no. 511

Accession Number

1991.25.1

Artists / Makers

William Blake (artist) British, 1757 - 1827

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower left in pen and black ink: WB inv 1803

Provenance

Thomas Butts [1757-1845], 1803; Thomas Butts, Jr.; Captain F.J. Butts; his widow; sold 1906 through Carfax to W. Graham Robertson [1866-1948]; (his sale, Christie's, London, 22 July 1949, no. 43); (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London). Shaw Kennedy, by 1957. (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London), by 1963. Mr. James Biddle, New York [1929-2005] and Mrs. Louisa Copeland Biddle [later Mrs. Robert Duemling], New York, 1963; Louisa C. Duemling, Washington, DC; gift in 1991 to NGA.

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Butts, Jr., Thomas
Butts, Thomas
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Duemling, Robert W., Ambassador and Mrs.
Robertson, Graham

Exhibition History

1876: Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of the Works of William Blake, no. 218

1906: Carfax exhibition of works by William Blake, born 1757, died 1827 : 14 June to 31 July, 1906, no. 45.

1913: The National Gallery of British Art. Loan Exhibition of Works by William Blake, October to December, 1913, no. 38

1914: Nottingham Castle; Catalogue of a loan exhibition of works by William Blake (1757-1827), April, 1914, No. 39.

1914: The Manchester Whitworth Institute. Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Works by William Blake, February to March 1914. No. 39 (Exhibited under the title, "The House of Death, or the Lazar House").

1927: Burlington Fine Arts Club, Blake Centenary Exhibition, no. 34

1947: Blake, 1757-1827, The British Council, Tate Gallery, London, 1947, no. 35

1947: William Blake, 1757-1827, Galerie Rene Drouin, Paris, no. 25

1991: Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, p.124-125.

1994: Bosch e o Eterno Retorn [Bosch and the Eternal Return], Palácio Foz, Lisbon, Portugal, 1994 (catalogue by José-Augusto França, Bosch ou "Le Visionnaire Intergral").

1997: Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

Bibliography

1906: Russell, Archibald G. The Letters of William Blake London: Metheun & Co., 1906: 117-124.

1922: Binyon, Laurence, The Drawings and Engravings of William Blake. London: The Studio, Limited, 1922: 21-22, No. 49.

1925: Figgis, Darrell, The Paintings of William Blake. London: Ernest Benn, Limited, 1925: 72-73, No. 53.

1952: Preston, Kerrison, The Blake Collection of W. Graham Robertson. London: Faber and Faber. LTD, 1952: no. 62, 158-159.

1956: Bentley, Jr, G. E., “Thomas Butts, White Collar Maecenas,” PMLA 71.5 (1956): 1052-1066.

1956: Keynes, Geoffrey The Letters of William Blake. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1956: 86-90.

1957: Keynes, Geoffrey William Blake’s Illustrations to the Bible: a catalogue. Boissia, Clairvaux, Jura, France: Trianon Press for the William Blake Trust, 1957: 172.

1959: Blunt, Anthony, The Art of William Blake. New York, Evanston, San Francisco, and London: Harper and Row, 1959: 108.

1968: Raine, Kathleen Blake and Tradition Vol. I. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1968: 413-412.

1969: Bentley, Jr, G. E. Blake Records. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969: 570-571.

1971: Gage, John, “Blake’s Newton,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 34 (1971): 372-377, pg 375.

1972: Keynes, Geoffrey Blake Complete Writings. London: Oxford University Press, 1972: 823-826.

1974: Mellor, Anne Kostelanetz Blake’s Human Form Divine. Berkely and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974: 193-197.

1977: Bindman, David Blake as an Artist. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977: 132-139.

1981: Butlin, Martin. The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake . New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981: 365-366.

1990: Butlin, Martin William Blake 1757-1827. London: Tate Gallery Collections, 1990: 122.

1990: Johnson, Mary Lynn, “David’s Recognition of the Human Face of God in Blake’s Design for the book of Pslams,” in Blake and his Bibles edited by David V. Erdman, pgs. 117-156. Connecticut: Locust Hill Press, 1990: 119-120.

1991: Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art . Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991: p.124.

2013: Kelly, Franklin. "William Blake, The Death of Saint Joseph." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 49 (Fall 2013): 22-23 (color).