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Drawings

The Conversion of Saul

Type
Drawings(Opens in new tab)
Date
ca. 1800
Accession number
000.29
Maker
William Blake(Opens in new tab) (British, 1757–1827)
Dimensions
image including framing line: 16 1/8 x 14 1/8 in. (40.9 x 35.8 cm.) sheet: 16 5/8 x 14 5/8 in. (42.3 x 37.1 cm.)
Medium
pen and watercolor on wove paper
Description
Between ca. 1800 and 1805, Blake executed over eighty watercolors with Biblical subjects for Thomas Butts. These can bee seen as one of Blake's most important visual commentaries on the Bible, but the extent to which they embody concepts Blake develops in his poetry has yet to be explored fully. Nor has it been determined if the group was planned in advance as a carefully structured series or simply evolved over the years as Butts commissioned additions to his collection. "The Conversion of Saul" is a member of this large group and has been dated by Butlin 1981, 364, to the early years of production because of the bold watercolor washes and dramatic lighting effects, including chiaroscuro, typical of Blake's work ca. 1800-1802. Saul's dramatic conversion is told in Acts 9:3-7. Christ, surrounded by angels and a suffusion of "light from heaven" (9:3), directs Saul toward "the city" (9:6) of Damascus. Rather than falling "to the earth," as the Bible describes Saul (9:4), Blake shows him astride a great horse which has gone to ground. Saul looks up to Christ in rapt awe and extends his arms in a cruciform gesture, perhaps as a foreshadowing of his acceptance of Christ's crucifixion as a cornerstone of his new faith. On the left, one of "the men which journeyed with" Saul looks upward, his face illuminated by divine light, but the remainder of the helmeted soldiers bow their heads, "hearing a voice, but seeing no man" (9:7). This configuration stresses the physical presence of Christ rather than His being an insubstantial vision given to Saul alone. The soldiers' failure to see Christ (with one telling exception) is a result of their own perceptual and spiritual limitations expressed by their enclosed, earth-bound postures.
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)
Christ, surrounded by angels and suffusion of "light from heaven" (Acts 9), directs Saul toward Damascus. Saul (later St. Paul) looks above with welcoming arms outstretched; all but one of his soldiers lower their heads and fail to perceive the vision of Christ. Blake painted over 80 water colors on Biblical themes for his chief patron, Thomas Butts.

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