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Drawings

Illustrated manuscript of Genesis : first title page

Type
Drawings(Opens in new tab)
Date
ca. 1826-1827
Accession number
000.32
Maker
William Blake(Opens in new tab) (British, 1757–1827)
Dimensions
13 7/16 x 9 7/16 in. (34.1 x 23.9 cm.) sheet: 15 1/16 x 10 13/16 in. (38.2 x 27.5 cm.)
Medium
pencil, pen, gouache and watercolor on wove paper
Description
The composition is a carefully balanced integration of the letters of GE/ NE/ SIS with four major figures arranged around it. This structure is placed above a convex arc, apparently the circumference of the earth, complemented by a concave arc formed by four seated or kneeling figures. Rossetti 1863, 246, describes seven of the figures as "God the Father and Son, the four living creatures used as the Evangelical Symbols, and Adam." These identifications, perhaps based on information supplied by Linnell, have been accepted by most modern authorities. The bearded figure in a mandorla on the right is very probably God the Father, and His opposite on the left the Son kneeling in a sphere. [1] One of Blake's most characteristic motifs is a figure within, or reaching out from, a circle or ellipse-most famously in "The Ancient of Days" (the frontispiece to Europe, 1794), but also a prominent feature in several designs illustrating Dante's Divine Comedy Blake drew at about the same time he was working on the Genesis manuscript. Wavy blue lines above and below the Father, widened and colored black in the second title page, and the counterbalanced position of His arms suggest that He is dividing "the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament" (1:7). The Son reaches out with His left hand toward the raised right hand of Adam, standing like a colossus on the rim of the earth. Their touching, or almost touching, hands suggest that the Son is in the act of creating Adam-a role traditionally given to the Father, as in Michelangelo's Sistine fresco-or at least illuminating prelapsarian man with the divine consciousness emblemized by the large halo around Adam's head and upper torso. A few sketchy lines emanating from it suggest that the halo is also the sun, as is made clear by the more prominent rose-colored rays in the second title page. The letter "I" serves as a garment for Adam's loins, literally clothing him in the Word of God. His left arm repeats the Son's gesture. The symmetry of the design suggests that the symmetry of the Trinity is completed by the figure at the top of the design. [2] The giant wings, lightly sketched in pencil, associate him with the traditional representation of the Holy Ghost as a dove. He strides energetically to the right, with arms extended, in a posture very similar to, but the reverse of, the figure striding in flames on plate 3 of The Book of Urizen (1794). In an annotation on one of his Dante drawings, Blake identified the Holy Ghost with the "Imagination," [3] always an energetic and creative faculty for Blake. Thus, the Holy Ghost may be engaged in acts of creation like the other members of the Trinity. Two flames (of inspired activity?) rise near his left foot. They are tinted the same red as the body of the Holy Ghost. Slight diagonal lines descending from the top right corner may be the beginnings of rain or rays of light. The figures near the bottom of the design are too sketchy to identify. [4] Rossetti's reasonable proposal that they represent the four Evangelists may be based on their development in the second title page (q.v.). They sit on clouds or waves with tongues of (hellish?) flame above their heads. Three reach upward with extended arms, perhaps in anguish or in hopeful expectation of receiving the divine contact granted Adam. Notes 1. Damon 1924, 221, and 1965, 151, asserts that the Father "uplifts the bow of spiritual warfare." My comments follow Grant's correction (review of Damon 1965 and Grant 1970, 334), but not his claim that the Father holds a bow in His left hand in the first title page and "Newtonian compasses" in the second (1970, 334). In both cases, these instruments are more probably folds of a diaphanous gown or cloak hanging behind the figure. There are also lines left of the Father's right leg indicating a garment. 2. Nanavutty 1949, 128 of the 1973 reprint, does not name this figure but suggests that it is "probably a woman." Damon 1924, 220, identifies him as "the Angel of Revelation" (at elast in the second title page) and the figure standing on the globe as the Holy Ghost. 3. This last claim is repeated in Damon 1965, 151, and disputed by Grant in his review. Blake 1982, 689. 4. Unaccountably, Damon 1924, 221, and 1965, 151, identifies them as "the twelve apostles."
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)
Like many of his printed illuminated books, Blake's manuscript of Genesis combines texts and pictures to both tell and show a story of creation and fall. The work was unfinished at Blake's death in August 1827.

First Title Page (left). The Trinity occupies the upper half of the design, surrounding the first four letters of Genesis. The Holy Ghost strides energetically at the top, God the Father creates the waters above and below the earth on the right, and Christ (left) touches the hand of Adam, who dominates the center of the composition. The four figures only sketched at the bottom of the page may represent the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) or the Four Zoas from Blake's own mythological system.

Second Title Page (right). A further development of the first title page, and perhaps meant as a substitute for it. The animal heads of the figures at the bottom associate them with the beasts emblematic of the four Evangelists.

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