Description of the design for Blake's drawing, The Spirit of Plato, and quotation from Milton's Il Penseroso : autograph manuscript : [England], [ca. 1816-1820]

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William Blake

1757-1827

Black ink on paper.

6 9/16 x 4 1/8 inches (167 x 105 mm)

Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows with the special support of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne and Mr. Paul Mellon.

III, 45w

Provenance:

Thomas Butts ca. 1816-20; by inheritance to Thomas Butts, Jr., who sold the watercolors at a Foster's auction in London, 29 June 1853, lot 99 (£7.7.0 to Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Lord Houghton); by inheritance to Milnes' son, 1st Marquess of Crewe; sold Sotheby's London, 30 March 1903, lot 1 (£1960 to A. Jackson, probably a dealer acting for Perry); Marsden J. Perry by 1905; probably sold ca. 1906-1907 to William A. White; by inheritance to Alfred T. White in 1907; by inheritance to A. T. White's daughter, Mrs. Adrian Van Sinderen, by 1926; sold by Adrian Van Sinderen to The Pierpont Morgan Library in December 1949.

Notes:

Accompanies no. 9 of 12 watercolor designs for Milton's early poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso that contrast the cheerful man with the melancholic, thoughtful one. Blake created them on commission for Thomas Butts about 1816-1820. The two series were separated in 1903 and were not reunited until 1949, when they were acquired by the Library. Each of the watercolors in this series is accompanied by Blake's transcription of the relevant portion of the poem as well as his notes on his design.
18 lines of text written in ink on the recto of a sheet of laid paper accompanying the watercolor, The Spirit of Plato (1949.4:9, cataloged separately). Lines 1-8 are quoted from Milton's "Il Penseroso," lines 87-94.
Transcription: "9 Where I may oft outwatch the Bear / With thrice great Hermes or unsphear / The Spirit of Plato to unfold / What Worlds or what vast regions hold / The Immortal Mind that has forsook / Its Mansion in this Fleshly nook / And of those Spirits that are found / In Fire, Air, Flood. & Underground / The Spirit of Plato unfolds his Worlds / to Milton in Contemplation. The Three / destinies sit on the Circles of Platos / Heavens weaving the Thread of Mortal / Life these Heavens are Venus Jupiter / & Mars. Hermes flies before as attending / on the Heaven of jupiter The Great Bear / is seen in the Sky beneath Hermes & / The Spirits of Fire. Air. Water & Earth / Surround Miltons Chair"

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Artist page:

Blake, William

Department:

Drawings and Prints