(2) The Primæval Giants sunk in the Soil.-Canto XXXI. Slight colour. Grand in scale. (2) Nimrod.-Canto XXXI. Almost colourless. Would have come very fine, if completed. An indication of the unfinished tower of Babel is given behind Nimrod. (2) Ephialtes and two other Titans.-Canto XXXI. Almost colourless. The beginning of a very characteristic Blakeism. (j) Antæus setting down Dante and Virgil.-Canto XXXI. This is about the highest in finish of the whole series. The scene is full of blue tones, with ragged skirts of supernatural fire. Antæus is black, blue, and raw in the flesh-tints, and his pose extremely daring, as he sets down Dante and Virgil, and turns upwards again, in a single momentary action. Very fine. (k2) The Circle of the Traitors.-The Alberti Brothers.-Canto XXXII. Almost colourless. Their hair is iced together, as in the poem. Very ghastly, and would have come one of the most excellent of the series. (72) Same Circle.-Dante striking against Bocca degli Abati.— Canto XXXII. Almost colourless. Engraved and copied on p. 377, Vol. I. (m2) Dante tugging at Bocca's Hair.-Canto XXXII. Almost colourless. Ugolino is seen gnawing at the head of Archbishop Ruggieri. (2) Ugolino relating his Death.-Canto XXXIII. Almost colourless. Ugolino is an ancient man, much of the Job type. Ruggieri has his cardinal's hat lying beside him. (02) Ugolino in Prison.-Canto XXXIII. Slight pencil-sketch, uncoloured. Much the same as the design engraved in the 'Gates of Paradise.' Two angels are here introduced above. (p2) Lucifer.-Canto XXXIV. Very slight colour. Has indications of much curious detail. 124. THE PURGATORY.-Twenty Designs. [Linnell.] (a) Dante and Virgil re-beholding the Sun as they issue from Hell.-Canto I. Very slight. The beginning of a fine effect of light. (b) Dante, Virgil, and Cato.-Canto I. Pencil-sketch, with hardly any colour. (c) The Angelic Boat wafting over the Souls for Purgation.Canto II. Pencil-sketch, with hardly any colour. (d) The Mountain leading to Purgatory.-Canto IV. Only begun. A landscape subject. (e) The Ascent of the Mountain.-Canto IV. Slight colour. A grand sea, with the sun obscured by cloud. This would have come a splendid design. (f) The Souls of those who death.-Cantos V. and VI. only repented at the point of Slight colour. The souls float about in all directions. (g) The Lawn with the Kings and Angels.-Cantos VII. and VIII. Slight colour. (h) Lucia carrying Dante in his sleep.-Canto IX. Beautiful in character of moonlight, and fine in sentiment. (i) Dante and Virgil approaching the Angel who guards the Entrance of Purgatory.-Canto IX. Slight. The angel is within a door having a pointed arch. Huge blood-red clouds traverse the sun, which is shining upon the sea. The beginning of a very strong, but as yet harsh, effect of colour. The Angel marking Dante with the sevenfold P.-Canto IX. Slight colour. Also harsh as yet. (k) The Rock sculptured with the Recovery of the Ark and the Annunciation.-Canto X. Colour only begun. There is a tremendous black sea in the distance. (1) The Proud under their enormous Loads.-Canto X. Colour only begun, and design unfinished. The sea here seems to be under a moonlight effect. (m) The Angel Descending at the close of the Circle of the Proud.-Canto XII. The angel descends, with very energetic and beautiful lines of motion, towards Dante and Virgil, who stand on the sculptured rock. (n) The Souls of the Envious.-Canto XIII. Pencil-sketch. (0) The Angel inviting Dante to enter the Fire.-Canto XXVII. The fire is at the top of a narrow steep rock-ledge; the sea is blue, the sun sinking. Very grand in subject-matter and composition. (p) Dante at the moment of entering the Fire.-Canto XXVII. Very fine. (9) Dante and Statius sleeping, Virgil watching.—Canto XXVII. Slight, rather neutral colour. One of the finest of the series; the curves of the composition very lovely, the decoratively-invented vegetation curious, the sea black and rippled. Dante's vision of Rachel and Leah is seen in the full moon. (r) Beatrice on the Car, Dante, and Matilda.-Canto XXIX. Colour incomplete. The meandering, rippling stream is extremely pretty; the colour, if completed, would have been brilliant. (s) Beatrice addressing Dante.-Cantos XXIX. and XXX. Beatrice is tinted with yellow and red, as much incarnate in herself as proper to her drapery. The griffin harnessed to the car is grand and monumental, and there is much fantasy in the gleaming of the lights and colours. (1) The Harlot and the Giant.-Canto XXXII. Colour only begun. The colour is in an unsightly preparatory stage. The design has a good deal of curious material. 125. THE PARADISE.-Ten Designs. [Linnell.] (a) Dante adoring Christ.-Canto XIV. Only begun. Distinguished by its daring, waved pattern-lines of fire. (b) A design of Circular Stairs.-Canto XIX. Pencil-sketch. Canto XIX., to which Blake has referred this design, does not contain anything closely corresponding with it. Perhaps it symbolizes the relation, as in descending grades, between the divine and created intelligences. (c) The Recording Angel.-Canto XIX. Half-colour. Represented as an aged man winged. (d) Beatrice and Dante in Gemini, amid the Spheres of Flame. -Canto XXIV. Colour only begun. (e) St. Peter, Beatrice, and Dante.-Canto XXIV. Colour only St. Peter is in a tongue-like flame of fire in mid-sky. A fine beginning. Only (g) The same four, with St. John the Evangelist also.Canto XXVI. Only begun. The beginning of a very striking work. The five figures, each segregated in a sort of disc of its own, form an irregular cinqfoiled composition; John being at the apex, flanked by Peter and James, Dante at the base, and Beatrice inserted midway, towards the right. (h) The Deity, from whom proceed the Nine Spheres.Canto XXVIII. Only begun in colour. Curious. (i) Dante in the Empyrean, drinking at the River of Light. Canto XXX. Only begun. A number of distinct subjects, admissible according to the 'Doctrine of Correspondences,' are given in the background. In one of these one finds the operations of pictorial art represented. () The Queen of Heaven in Glory.-Canto XXXI. Sketch, almost colourless. 126. 1825. (?)—The Circle of the Lustful. [The Hell.] Some figures which do not appear in the engraved subject: slightly washed in colour. On the back is a sketch of two figures, one of them floating. This belongs to Mr. Aspland. SECTION B. UNDATED WORKS. ARRANGED ACCORDING TO SUBJECT. C.-BIBLICAL AND SACRED. 127. The Creation of Light. [Butts.] 128. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.' [Butts.] Very characteristic and fine. The Creator appears within a vesica, formed by the heads and wings of angels, encircled by the sky, rayed with yellow and other hues. The aerial effect of colour throughout the group, in which blue is freely used in the half-tones of flesh, is excellent. 129. *The Creation of Eve-'She shall be called Woman.' [Butts.] The Creator, holding a hand of Adam, who reclines under a vine, and a hand of Eve, upon a floating cloud, presents her to him. Several sheep are introduced-four of them grazing close by a slumbering lion. 130. Eve tempted by the Serpent. [Butts.] Oil-picture on copper. A small full-length picture of a very beautiful, fair woman, holding up her right hand to take the apple which the monsterserpent, coiling beside her, lifts high above her head. The moon and a waterfall are in the background. A very carefully-painted, highly-coloured picture. 131. The Temptation. [Butts.] Tempera. 132. The Almighty accusing Eve. 133. The Expulsion from Eden. Tempera, on black ground. Fine in colour. 134. Lot and his Daughters. [Butts.] Tempera. One of the daughters is a rich, fine form. 135. Abraham and Isaac, with the Ram caught in the Thicket. [Butts.] Tempera. Fair; full in colour: the ram very large. 136. Joseph and Potiphar's Wife. [Butts.] 'Joseph and Jezebel, according to the sale-catalogue; probably Blake's own way of expressing it. 137. Moses placed in the Ark of Bulrushes. [Butts.] Tempera. Excellently invented. The mother swoons into her husband's arms; the sister is on the watch, to give warning of any interruption. The Pyramids are prominent in the landscape. 138. The Compassion of Pharaoh's Daughter:' the Finding of Moses. [Butts.] An exceedingly beautiful design, fully rivalling the grace and tenderness of Flaxman. The princess is a most delicious figure : she is attended by two young girls and two lovely women. Along with the funny little Moses are his mother and sister. In the right-hand corner a pelican (not in the least like one) is feeding her young. Pale in colour. 139. *Moses at the Burning Bush. [Butts.] High, but not good, in colour. The treatment is interesting. The burning bush presents a small, spiral, dark flame. Moses gazes upon it, much as might any spectator of a curious phenomenon not especially concerning himself. 140. Moses indignant at the Golden Calf. [Butts.] Tempera. A fine The figure of Moses occupies more than half the whole space; other figures are given in the lower left-hand corner. specimen. 141. Moses erecting the Brazen Serpent. [Butts.] High in colour-red, blue, and yellow-especially in the serpents and in the sky. Great in energy and in the conception of the serpents, which flare up into the air, loaded with their burden of human agony. A serpent is twined lax around Moses, dying out before the saving brazen image, and its colours fading into slaty extinction: the brazen one is as horrent and living in aspect as any of the others. The only figures not tormented by the serpents are two maidens, one of whom is in an action of thanksgiving. For this figure Blake probably had in his mind the promise, 'It shall bruise thy head,'-the head of a dead serpent coming just at her feet. Whiffs of flame flit across the sky. A wonderful piece of invention throughout. 142. *The Stoning of Achan. The face of the stoned man, an athletic figure, perfectly naked, is turned aside and backwards. The subject might be the 'Stoning of the Blasphemer' (Leviticus xxiv. 23), or even of Stephen; but the figure seems less adapted for the latter: and a peculiar detail-a lurid wreath of smoke above his head, mingled with fire-would indicate the 'burning with fire' of all that belonged to Achan. The wrathful bearded Jews stand over him on both sides, six simultaneous arms raised with their weight of stone. Very vigorous in design and contour, tending towards the style of Fuseli. 143. The Burial of Moses: discomfiture of Satan, who fought for the body of Moses.' 144. Job confessing his Presumption to God. [Butts.] An exceedingly grand design, not at all corresponding with any of the Job engravings. The Deity, enwreathed by a very vivid prismatic glory, is the only part of the subject which falls short. From around Him, angels whirl earthward, 'drinking the air of their own speed.' Job kneels in front, his head raised. The three friends and Elihu are all bowed arch-wise prostrate to the ground, Elihu especially having a very beautiful and awful look. 145. Jephthah met by his Daughter. [Butts.] Companion to No. 48. Fine and impulsive, though indifferently executed. The daughter, a lovely girl, not yet of full |