''The Ancient of Days'' is a design by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

, originally published as the frontispiece to the 1794 work ''

Europe a Prophecy ''Europe a Prophecy'' is a 1794 prophetic book by the British poet and illustrator William Blake. It is engraved on 18 plates, and survives in just nine known copies. It followed ''America a Prophecy'' of 1793. Background During autumn 1790, ...

''. It draws its name from one of God's titles in the Book of Daniel and shows

Urizen In the mythology of William Blake, Urizen () is the embodiment of conventional reason and law. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe; or nets, with which he ensna ...

crouching in a circular design with a cloud-like background. His outstretched hand holds a compass over the darker void below. Related imagery appears in Blake's ''

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

'', completed the next year. As noted in

Alexander Gilchrist Alexander Gilchrist (182830 November 1861), an English author, is known mainly as a biographer of William Etty and of William Blake. Gilchrist's biography of Blake is still a standard reference work about the poet. Gilchrist was born at Newingto ...

's 1863 book, ''

Life of William Blake The ''Life of William Blake, "Pictor Ignotus." With selections from his poems and other writings'' is a two-volume work on the English painter and poet William Blake, first published in 1863. The first volume is a biography and the second a comp ...

'', the design of ''The Ancient of Days'' was "a singular favourite with Blake and as one it was always a happiness to him to copy."Gilchrist (1863). pp. 379-380 As such there are many versions of the work extant, including one completed for

Frederick Tatham Frederick Tatham (31 July 1805 – 29 July 1878) was an English artist who was a member of the Shoreham Ancients, a group of followers of William Blake. The son of Charles Heathcote Tatham, an architect, Tatham and his brother and sister were ...

only weeks before Blake's death. The British Museum notes that one copy, accessioned in 1885, was excluded from

Martin Butlin Martin Richard Fletcher Butlin, CBE, FBA (b. 1929), is a British art historian. His main field of study is British art history and his published works reflect, in particular, a study of art of the 18th and 19th centuries. He is an authority on ...

's 1982

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

of Blake's paintings and drawings, suggesting the author doubted that attribution. Early critics of Blake noted the work as amongst his best, and a favourite of the artist himself. A description by Richard Thompson in John Thomas Smith's ''Nollekens and His Times'', was of "... an uncommonly fine specimen of art, and approaches almost to the sublimity of Raffaelle or Michel Angelo." and as representing the event given in the

Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs ( he, מִשְלֵי, , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible and a book of the Christian Old Testament. When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different ...

viii. 27 (KJV), "when he set a compass upon the face of the earth." The subject is said to have been one of the 'visions' experienced by Blake and that he took an especial pleasure in producing the prints. The copy commissioned by Tatham in the last days of Blake's life, for a sum of money exceeding any previous payment for his work, was tinted by the artist while propped up in his bed. After his revisions, Blake is said to have,

threw it from him, and with an air of exulting triumph exclaimed, "There, that will do! I cannot mend it."

The image was used as the 2006 paperback cover of Stephen Hawking's 2005 book '' God Created the Integers''. Also used as design influence for '' The Concept'' album cover by American funk band

Slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, 1978.

Gallery of extant copies

There are currently thirteen known extant copies of ''

''. Because of Blake's production process of hand colouring each print, each image has its own unique qualities. The following images of ''The Ancient of Days'' are those available via the digital archiving project, the

William Blake Archive The William Blake Archive is a digital humanities project started in 1994, a first version of the website was launched in 1996.{{cite journal, last1=Crawford, first1=Kendal, last2=Levy, first2=Michelle, journal=RIDE: A Review Journal for Digital E ...

: File:Europe_a_Prophecy_copy_B_object_1_Bentley_1,_Erdman_i_Keynes_i_Europe_a_Prophecy.jpg, ''The Ancient of Days'' in ''Europe a Prophecy'' copy B from the

Glasgow University Library Glasgow University Library in Scotland is one of the oldest and largest university libraries in Europe. At the turn of the 21st century, the main library building itself held 1,347,000 catalogued print books, and 53,300 journals. In total, the ...

File:Europe a Prophecy copy D 1794 British Museum object 1.jpg, ''The Ancient of Days'' in ''Europe a Prophecy'' copy D from the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

File:Europe a Prophecy copy E 1794 Library of Congress object 1.jpg, ''The Ancient of Days'' in ''Europe a Prophecy'' copy E from the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

File:Europe a Prophecy, copy G 1794 Morgan Library and Museum object 1.jpg, The G copy,

Morgan Library & Museum The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th S ...

Morgan Library page
/ref> File:Europe a Prophecy copy H 1795 Houghton Library object 1.jpg, ''The Ancient of Days'' in ''Europe a Prophecy'' copy H from the

Houghton Library Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library system of Harvard's Faculty of Art ...

File:Europe a Prophecy copy K plate 01.jpg, ''The Ancient of Days'' in ''Europe a Prophecy'' copy K from the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancient of Days Prints and drawings in the British Museum Art by William Blake Gods in art