Blake, William (1757-1827)
The Death of the Wicked Man
s.d.
Watercolor, 20.2 × 25.5 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Third sheet in a series of nineteen, commissioned by the publisher Robert H. Cromek to illustrate the collection The Grave by the writer Robert Blair (1699-1746). This long, meditative poem about death became very popular in the 19th century. This sheet – the only work by Blake in a French public collection – accompanies the third poem “Death of the strong Wicked man”. Until 2001, only one drawing from this series was known, kept in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven. (Louvre)