William Blake

Commissioned by Thomas Butts (1757-1845);
Thomas Butts, Jun.;
Captain F. J. Butts;
with Carfax & Co, London;
by whom sold to W. Graham Robertson (1866-1948), April 1906;
sale, London, Christie’s, 22 July 1949, lot 29, bt. Agnew’s (£840);
with Agnew’s, London;
by whom sold to Mrs Gilbert Russell;
by whom gifted to John Russell;
with Agnew’s, London;
Dorothy Braude Edinburg (1921-2015);
by family descent to the present owner

London, Carfax and Co., Works by William Blake, January 1904, no. 40;
London, Carfax  and Co., Frescoes, Prints and Drawings by William Blake, June-July 1906, no. 73;
Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery, William Blake: Poet, Printer, Prophet, May-June, no. 34;
London, Tate Gallery, William Blake, March-May 1978, no. 175

W.M. Rossetti, ‘Annotated Catalogue of Blake’s Pictures and Drawings and Engravings’, in A. Gilchrist, Life of William Blake, London 1863, vol. II. possibly p. 227, no. 152, p. 255, list 3, no. 15. Revised and reprinted in A. Gilchrist, Life of William Blake, London 1880, vol. II, possibly p. 240, no. 176 or p. 275, list 3, no. 15;
D. Figgis, The Paintings of William Blake, London 1925, pl. 51;
T. P. Greig, 'In the Auction Rooms', The Connoisseur, July - December 1949, p. 65
K. Preston, The Blake Collection of W. Graham Robertson, described by the Collector, London 1952, p. 151, no. 56, pl. 50;
G. Keynes, William Blake’s Illustrations to the Bible, London 1957, p. 38, no. 133 (illustrated);
D. Bindman, Blake as an Artist, Oxford 1977, pp. 124 and 143;
M. Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, Yale 1981, p. 358, no. 490, pl. 546

The pen and ink and watercolor pigments are in overall good condition. There is a slight indication of some foxing around the halo of Christ. The paper overall has slightly discolored, although Blake did use a cream colored paper, which is visible at the bottom edge of the sheet - this is visible in the catalogue. The catalogue image is slightly darker and less luminous than the reality. The contrast of light and shadow are still well balanced and there are a number of areas, such as the blue sky, which are vivid.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present work belongs to a group of 135 depictions of biblical subjects that William Blake created for his great patron Thomas Butts.  The first record of this monumental undertaking survives in a letter, dated 26 August 1799, in which Blake writes to George Cumberland: ‘As to Myself about whom you are so kindly Interested, I live by a Miracle. I am Painting small Pictures from the Bible ... My work pleases my employer, & I have an order for Fifty small pictures at One Guinea each.’¹

For these initial paintings, created between 1799 and 1803, Blake chose to work with tempera on canvas or metal.  From around 1800 however, he also began to paint with watercolor on paper and he continued to add to the series in this way until circa 1809.  Of this exceptional body of work, about thirty tempera and eighty watercolor images are known today. Amongst these, just over ninety works are held in museums and institutions and the present work is one of only six watercolors from the cycle that remain in private hands.

Blake’s images of the bible are diverse and extraordinary.  They tackle many of the great themes of the Old Testament, the life of Christ and the Apocalypse and the scenes are treated with a mixture of power, emotion and beauty.  Religion was of supreme importance to the artist.  He is reputed to have experienced heavenly ‘visions’ throughout his life, including for example, seeing a host of angels in a tree on Peckham Rye as an eight year old boy and then in the mid-1770s, while serving as an apprentice at Westminster Abbey, Christ and the Apostles.  Naturally, the Bible was one of Blake’s most important sources of subject matter and for him, it was ‘not a simple record of historical events, not even a form of spiritual document, but the embodiment of the whole history of mankind, past, present and future.’²

The present work is calm, elegant and refined and its mannerist atmosphere would appear to date it to circa 1805.  Blake shows Christ in a mystic garden surrounded by six of the Apostles.  Four hold musical instruments and this has led some to catalogue the watercolour under the title Christ and the Heavenly Choir.³  However, as the inscription in the lower right margin suggests, Blake has in fact taken inspiration from a passage in the Gospel according Saint Mark (14: 26): ‘..and when they sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives’. 

The importance of Thomas Butts in Blake’s life and career cannot be underestimated.  He was a clerk in the office of the Commissary General of Musters and lived in Fitzroy Square, London.  He first Blake met in circa 1793 and over the course of the next two decades he became his most loyal and significant patron.  His support, both as a friend and financially, afforded Blake a layer of security and under his patronage, Blake created some of his most iconic and epic series, including the Bible, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Comus, the Ode of the Nativity, L’Allegro ll Penseroso and The Book of Job.

After Thomas Butts, this watercolor was owned by other fascinating collectors.  For most of the first half of the 20^th Century the work belonged to W. Graham Robertson (1866-1948).  A painter, playwright and theatrical designer, Robertson also assembled a magnificent collection of works by Blake.  Upon his death, he bequeathed nine Blakes to the Tate Gallery, while the remaining ninety, including the present work, were sold at Christie’s, London on 22 July 1949, in a sale that has been described as ‘the greatest Blake sale that has ever taken place.’⁴  Later, the work belonged to Dorothy Edinburg of Boston (1921-2015).  From Boston, Massachusetts, she accumulated one of the most important collections of drawings in America.  A long-time supporter of the Art Institute of Chicago, in 2013 she gifted to them, in honor of her parents, The Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection, which consisted of nearly 800 European works on paper and 150 works from China, Korea and Japan.

^1. K. Baetjer, British Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1578-1875, New Haven 2009, p. 178

^2. P. Ackroyd and M. Butlin, William Blake, London 2000, p. 60

^3. See the exhibition Works by William Blake, held at London, Carfax and Co. in January 1904 
^4. Greig, op. cit., 1949, p. 65