William Blake (1757–1827)
The voice and vision for the 21st century
“And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?”
— William Blake, Milton: A Poem in Two Books
It is wonderful how serendipitous our lives can be as I finish an article on the Luddite rebellion in the early decades of the 19th century and see a day later advertised in The London Review Of Books an exhibition at Fitzwilliam Museum in the University of Cambridge titled William Blake’s Universe.
The exhibition brings together the largest-ever display of works by William Blake from the Fitzwilliam collection alongside artworks by his European contemporaries, including the German Romantic painters Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich, many of which have never been displayed in the UK before.
This new exhibition is part of the Pay What You Wish scheme. This should allow many who are struggling financially to see one of our greatest artists, printmakers, poets, and political radicals. However, what is most interesting is that it is the first exhibition to situate Blake within the wider context of European trends and themes in art. No Brexit here.
