Accompanies no. 12 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.
16 lines of text written in ink on the recto of a sheet of laid paper accompanying the watercolor, Mirth (1949.4:1, cataloged separately). Lines 2-12 are quoted from Milton's "L'Allegro," lines 13, 25-28, 31-36.
Transcription: "Mirth. Allegro / 1 Heart easing Mirth. / Haste thee Nymph & bring with thee / Jest & Youthful Jollity / Quips & Cranks & Wanton Wiles / Nods & Becks & wreathed Smiles / Sport that wrinkled Care derides / And Laughter holding both his Sides / Come & trip it as you go / On the light phantastic toe / And in thy right hand lead with thee / The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty / These Personifications are all brought / together in the First Design. Surrounding / the Principal Figure which is Mirth / herself"
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Description of the design for Blake's drawing, Mirth, and quotation from Milton's L'Allegro : autograph manuscript : [England], [ca. 1816-1820].
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William Blake
1757-1827
Description of the design for Blake's drawing, Mirth, and quotation from Milton's L'Allegro : autograph manuscript : [England], [ca. 1816-1820].
Black ink on paper.
6 5/8 x 4 5/16 inches (169 x 109 mm)
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows with the special support of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne and Mr. Paul Mellon.
III, 45o
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.
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