William Blake was a painter (and poet) from England who is well known for the unique nature of his artwork. He was born on November 28, 1757 and lived until the age of 70. From a young age, he had a natural talent for the arts and took drawing classes. He even apprenticed for an engraver and attended the Royal Academy of Art’s Schools of Design. He was very spiritual and one can clearly see how his views on religion influenced his work. One such artwork is The Ancient of Days, which shows his interpretation of God measuring the world with the compass. What I found admirable about him is that he didn’t care about copying the works of the past masters and following the rules of the academies. He used his own imagination and did whatever he believed in. In fact, the God in his painting (called Urizen) was someone he made up from his nightmares. I’m sure rejecting all these rules about how something should be depicted required quite some courage. It also probably led to consequences as his friends had to save him from dying of hunger. Although I understand what can attract people to his work (his use of the bright orange and yellow colors behind the God figure is quite interesting to look at against the dark background), I feel that his work lacks variety. Most of his paintings depict only religious figures from his visions such as angels, demons and gods. I feel like he just limited himself by doing this. He was so focused on his visions, he seemed to have forgotten everything else. There are so many other subjects he could have drawn in a beautiful way while still using his imagination. Overall, William Blake played a huge role in breaking away from social norms and perhaps inspiring other artists to do the same. Like Jan Vermeer, he was not appreciated during his time and only known a hundred years later.

Research Sources:

The Story of Art by E.H Gombrich (pg. 490)

https://www.biography.com/writer/william-blake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake#Religious_views