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Drawings

Figure from Michelangelo's "Last Judgment"

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Type
Drawings(Opens in new tab)
Date
1776
Accession number
000.56
Attributed
attributed to William Blake(Opens in new tab) (British, 1757–1827)
Dimensions
20 1/4 x 12 9/16 in. (51.5 x 31.9 cm.)
Medium
oil on paper mounted on cardboard
Description
As Butlin 1981, 15, notes this copy of a figure in the lower left portion of Michelangelo's "Last Judgement" fresco in the Sistine Chapel is "completely uncharacteristic of Blake's style and technique." Both the medium and the broad, sketchy brush strokes set this work apart from Blake's earliest known works of the late 1770s which show the studied draftsmanship one would expect from a young man being trained as a professional copy engraver. There would be no reason for associating this work with Blake in any way if it were not for the large, bold signature. Butlin 1981, 15, considers this signature "sufficiently unlike Blake's usual forms to be inadeqaute evidence for his authorship." However, it is sufficiently like the forged Blake signatures added to several of the works listed below, No. 2, to make the authenticity of the signature suspect. Four of these drawings also bear inscribed dates following the signatures. According to Baker 1957, 53, the paiting was acquired "in New York, 1916." He gives the same year and place for Huntington's acquisition of the Comus designs (000.20-000.27), and these were accompanied by the group of misattributed drawings. Huntington purchased both portfolios of drawings late in 1916 from Rosenbach, who then had a shop in New York as well as his main Philadelphia office. The oil sketch came to the Huntington in a French mat (retained) identical in materials and style to those in which the misattributed drawings are mounted. Thus, what little information we have about the provenance of the painting suggests a common source with works bearing forged signatures. There is no evidence other than the verso inscription that the painting was ever in the possession of Blake's friend John Flaxman (1755-1826). In my opinion, this painting is not by William Blake and the signature was written by the same forger who added Blake inscriptions to the drawings.
Credit
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Department
European Art
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