<< YCBA Home Yale Center for British Art Yale Center for British Art << YCBA Home

YCBA Collections Search

 
IIIF Actions
Creator:
Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827
Title:

Jerusalem, Plate 2, Title Page

Part Of:

Collective Title: Jerusalem: The Emanation of The Giant Albion, Bentley Copy E

Date:
1804 to 1820
Medium:
Relief etching printed in orange ink, with watercolor, pen and black ink, and gold on moderately thick, smooth, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 13 1/2 x 10 3/8 inches (34.3 x 26.4 cm), Plate: 8 7/8 x 6 3/8 inches (22.5 x 16.2 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1992.8.1(2)
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
angel | fairy | literary theme | moon | nudes | religious and mythological subject | sun | text | wings | women
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3448
Export:
XML
IIIF Manifest:
JSON

William Blake insisted that Jerusalem, his final prophetic book, was divinely inspired. Of the five copies he printed in his lifetime, only the edition now at the Yale Center for British Art was colored. Blake described his narrative as a “Sublime Allegory,” which he divided into four chapters that correspond to spiritual stages of human history, addressed “To the Public,” “To the Jews,” “To the Deists,” and “To the Christians.” The text has been linked to biblical precedents, particularly the Book of Revelation, as it begins after a universal fall and ends with redemption. However, Jerusalem is not a straightforward expression of Christian devotion. The illuminated text offers a critique of organized religion at a moment of spiritual uncertainty across Europe. Blake called for radical religious reform by liberating faith from the corruption and dogmatism of institutional churches and reimagining it in modern terms.

Gallery label for the Critique of Reason: Romantic Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26)

William Blake: Visionary (The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2023-10-17 - 2024-01-14) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Critique of Reason : Romantic Art, 1760–1860 (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

William Blake (Tate Britain, 2000-11-02 - 2001-02-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Human Form Divine - William Blake from the Paul Mellon Collection (Yale Center for British Art, 1997-04-02 - 1997-07-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

William Blake - His Art & Times (Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982-12-03 - 1983-02-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

William Blake - His Art & Times (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-09-15 - 1982-11-14) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Denise Gigante, Life, organic form and Romanticism , Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009, p. 113 and bteween p. 114 and 115, Pl. III.1, PR575.L54 G54 2009 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sebastian Schutze, William Blake : the drawings for Dante's Divine comedy, Taschen, Koln, 2014, p. 37, 39, fig. 28, Folio A N 121 (YCBA) [YCBA]

William Blake : Visionary, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, p. 147, pl. 104, NJ18.B57 A12 2020 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]


If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.