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Lucifer and the Pope in Hell

Type
Prints(Opens in new tab)
Date
ca. 1794-1796
Accession number
000.125
Maker
William Blake(Opens in new tab) (British, 1757–1827)
Dimensions
sheet: 7 13/16 x 10 13/16 in. (19.9 x 27.4 cm.) mount: 7 13/16 x 10 13/16 in. (19.9 x 27.4 cm.)
Medium
etching/engraving color printed with gum or glue based pigments and hand finished with watercolors, pen and ink on wove[?] paper
Description
Color printed by Blake from the surface of the plate and some intaglio lines in gum or glue based pigments (predominately blue, olive brown, green, mustard yellow. Extensively hand finished in watercolors (reddish orange, black, light blue, flesh pink, touches of opaque white) and pen and ink. The only other traced impression (British Museum) is printed in intaglio and uncolored. The date of etching/engraving is based on the graphic style and the thematic similarities between the print and Blake's illuminated books of 1793-95. Blake seems to have done most of his color printing from copperplates ca. 1794-96. He first executed a version of his design ca. 1780-85 as a pen and wash drawing, "The King of Babylon in Hell" (Royal Collection, Windsor; Butlin 1981, No. 145).
Credit
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Department
European Art
Find out more
View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)
This print demonstrates Blake's sense of the interconnections between Biblical prophecy and contemporary politics. The triple-crowned Pope on the right is given the caricatured face of England's King George III. He will join in hell other fallen monarchs and soldiers overthrown by the French Revolution and its offspring.

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