William Blake created a profound body of visual and literary art between the late 18th and early 19th centuries but as is often the case with Vanguard visionaries many of his peers dismissed his unusual contributions today we celebrate the London born Romantic era poet painter and engraver whose sublime creative intuition was largely overlooked during his lifetime this is several circles [Music] William Blake who lived from 1757 until 1827 was a quintessential contemporary artist in his day his poems are abstract musings on the human condition and his art favors the expression of sentiment over realism Blake's works it's within the ideology of Romanticism a European intellectual movement that gained traction across art music and literature toward the end of the 18th century romanticism challenged the age of enlightenment Skol for reason and rejected the unbiased realism of the concurrent neoclassical movement rather romantic artists valued the individual's intensity of emotion as as likewise exemplified in the work of English painters JMW Turner and John Constable French painter Eugen dellacroix Spanish painter Francisco Goya and the Swiss painter Henri fusilli who was one of Blake's few advocates they exclude unusually avant-garde even for the romantics he vehemently championed the artists imagination over objectivity and breathed life and energy into a pantheon of God's angels and hybrid creatures but these figures were seemingly quite real to him Blake experienced visions throughout his life claiming to have seen God in his window at age four and at nine a tree of angels with brilliant wings which he likened to stars as an adult Blake would attribute much of his creative inspiration to the ghosts and heavenly beings who visited him Blake was born in London to supportive working-class parents who were disturbed by their son's hallucinations but acknowledged his exceptional mind they enrolled him in art classes at age 10 when he expressed interest in becoming a painter he studied at Henry Parrs drawing school until his family could no longer afford it after which it was determined that fourteen-year-old Blake would train to become an engraver he apprenticed with the renowned British engraver James bass Iyer for several years all the while sketching his own interpretations of Medieval and Renaissance artworks by the likes of Frangelico and Raphael the sentimental paintings not only honed Blake's artistic eye but fuelled to the spirit of his poetry Blake left his engraving apprenticeship in his early 20s to pursue formal art studies at the Royal Academy in London disillusioned with the principles of the curriculum he soon dropped out and found work engraving books and periodicals his popularity as an engraver helped him and his beloved wife Catherine whom he married in 1782 maintained some financial security in 1783 Blake published his first book of poems which he's believed to have written between the ages of 12 and 20 entitled poetical sketches the book contains lyrical ODEs to the four seasons lamentations about visionless contemporary poetry and political commentary mind you Blake would live through the American and French Revolutions as well as the Napoleonic Wars the poetical sketches wasn't the wild success Blake had hoped for he subsequently founded a print shop so that he could continue to publish his own texts he cultivated an original method of printing called relief fetching by which he could adorn the margins of his poems with magnificent illustrations a technique guided by the spirit of his late brother Robert in 1789 Blake self-published Songs of Innocence followed by the more somber Songs of Experience at its core Blake's poetry was a manifesto for the masses and a cautionary tale for children whom he believed might actually understand his message with the greatest clarity these poems address the existential tragedy of the inherently passionate free-thinking individual who was systematically repressed by society the tiger which appears in songs of experience would become one of the most venerated and anthologized poems in the English language in 1795 Blake produced a group of 12 designs for collar prints in which he depicts subjects from history mythology and the Bible as well as texts by the English poets John Milton and Shakespeare these prints are considered amongst Blake's most important works of art exemplary of his exaggerated geometric style use of color and his Kennie ability to evoke the emotion of a scene it was also circa 1795 when Blake met his most loyal and active patron Thomas butts he was the ideal patron for Blake as he commissioned numerous illustrations but left the artist to his own devices at the turn of the century Blake and his wife relocated to the seaside village of Feltham where he worked for the writer William Haley until 1803 while this period of time proved inspirational to Blake Haley is irritating habit of making creative suggestions forced the two to part ways Blake's increasingly radical disposition and refusal to compromise his vision for money rendered the artist a notorious caricature of insanity and solitude his departure from academia also came back to haunt him he was essentially seen as an outsider artist whose diversion from the establishment resulted in a disappointing lack of publicity and what he did put out for the public eye was largely misunderstood and 1809 he organized a solo show of what he considered to be his most important paintings he saw them as spectacular frescoes in the making that could rival the greatest Renaissance master works instead they were slammed by the only critic who attended the defeat marked a crushing downturn in Blake's finances as well as his psyche but in 1818 Blake fortuitously met the English painter and engraver John little whose patronage helped keep the artists somewhat afloat in his twilight years little commissioned illustrations for the book of Job and most famously Dante's Divine Comedy the Blake died before completing the latter project but if priceless value was lintels connection with a group of young artists known as the ancients who assembled over a shared appreciation for Blake's ingenuity while the majority of Blake's peers turn their noses up to his work which ultimately kept him from a commercial success the ancients transformed Blake into a teacher and muse in his final years despite their support Blake died and relative obscurity at age 69 in 1827 Blake spent his entire life creating against the grain and only after his death that the following generations come to comprehend the rarity of his genius though he was unable to enjoy the posthumous fame he knew he deserved Blake unknowingly laid the groundwork for so many artists to come from the pre-raphaelite Brotherhood to the Symbolists and numerous modern Mavericks across disciplines from September 2019 until February 20 2010 in London held the largest lake retrospective in 20 years they put over 300 of his artworks on view including a recreation of his devastating exhibition in 1809 this time lake received his due acclaim thanks for watching several circles don't forget to subscribe for more videos about the lives and work of extraordinary artists from across history to the present day [Music]