William Blake was an amazing painter but he is recognized more for his poetry than his paintings. He was frequently dismissed and did not gain much renown during his lifetime. Now, after his death, he is considered a visionary in poetry and visual art. His pieces are bold and striking, sometimes taking a moment to figure out what you are looking at. He was born in London and after being educated primarily by his mother he apprenticed under James Basire, an engraver. The forms in his paintings are soft around the edges but meticulously detailed if you look closer. I chose to do my blog post on William Blake for selfish reasons. I have been watching a lot of Hannibal and one of William Blakes’s pieces, “The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun” is the central focus of season four of the show. The main antagonist of the last season is obsessed with becoming the great red dragon in the work of art.