The Pastorals of Virgil, Eclogue I: The Blasted Tree
William Blake (British, 1757–1827)
1821
- Medium
- wood engraving
- Classification
- Dimensions
- Image: 3.4 x 7.3 cm (1 5/16 x 2 7/8 in.)
- Culture
- England, 19th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Prints
- Credit line
- Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
William Blake conceived and engraved 17 designs for Dr. Robert John Thornton’s The Pastorals of Virgil, a popular schoolbook used in teaching Latin. The publication included translations of poems by ancient Roman author Virgil that focus on a rural setting as both a subject matter and as the background for discussions of various issues, from love to politics. Blake’s illustrations reveal his emphasis on the natural world. As his only wood engravings, they also show how the process entails cutting away from the woodblock to create lighter sections, in essence working in white over a black background. Here, several areas—such as the textures of the trees—emphasize that point.
