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Illustrated manuscript of Genesis : God the Father in the act of Creation

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Type
Drawings(Opens in new tab)
Date
ca. 1826-1827
Accession number
000.34
Maker
William Blake(Opens in new tab) (British, 1757–1827)
Dimensions
headpiece: 3 1/8 x 9 1/4 in. (8 x 23.5 cm.) image including text: 11 9/16 x 9 1/4 in. (29.4 x 23.5 cm.) sheet: 14 13/16 x 10 13/16 in. (37.7 x 27.5 cm.)
Medium
pencil, pen(?) and watercolor on wove paper
Description
Text of Genesis 1:1-18 in green and red over pencil, with liquid gold on the initial "I". In the design above the text, a bearded figure-no doubt God the Father-reaches down with His left hand in an act of creation. This gesture is similar to the demiurge in Blake's "Ancient of Days," the frontispiece to Europe (1794). The sinister implications of the comparison are somewhat mitigated by the Father's right hand, raised with a palm outward in blessing. If Blake's chapter heading also serves as a caption for the headpiece, then the Father is creating Adam, "the Natural Man." Close to each side of the Father is a winged angel, with outer arm extended slightly above the horizontal, to form a symmetrical pattern. Pencil outlines define billowing clouds, some extending down both margins of the text.
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)
God the Father, accompanied bny angels, reaches down with his left arm in the act of creation. He raises his right hand in blessing. This is a more beneficent version of Blake's most famous single design, The Ancient of Days, displayed in an adjacent room.

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