Liggende man omringd door drie vliegende figuren - William Blake
Archival giclée
Frames arrive ready to hang
Secure checkout
Made to order
Description
A visionary engraving by William Blake from his 1797 series illustrating Edward Young's Night Thoughts, featuring ethereal figures surrounding a central text block.
This engraving originates from the ambitious project to illustrate Edward Young's poem, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. William Blake was commissioned by the publisher Richard Edwards to produce a series of designs for this edition. The resulting work features a central block of letterpress text surrounded by Blake's imaginative compositions.
In this specific plate, a reclining figure occupies the lower portion of the frame, attended by three ethereal, elongated forms that appear to float or descend from the margins. The figures are rendered with the fluid, sinuous lines characteristic of Blake's graphic style. Their drapery extends into long, ribbon-like shapes that frame the central text, creating a visual bridge between the poetic verses and the illustrative imagery. The composition demonstrates the artist's ability to integrate text and image into a unified page design, a practice he refined throughout his career in his illuminated books.
Blake's approach to the subject matter is highly personal. Rather than providing literal depictions of the text, he offers a visionary interpretation that reflects his own philosophical concerns regarding mortality and the spiritual realm. The figures possess a weightless quality, their forms defined by delicate hatching and precise contours. The contrast between the rigid, rectangular block of typography and the organic, flowing lines of the figures creates a tension that is typical of Blake's work from this period. This print serves as a representative example of late eighteenth-century British book illustration, where the boundaries between commercial production and artistic expression were frequently blurred by the creative vision of the illustrator.
Return policy
Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
Shipping
We ship worldwide, printing at the production hub nearest to your delivery address. Delivery times and costs vary by destination — you'll see the options available to you at checkout.
Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Liggende man omringd door drie vliegende figuren - William Blake
Artist Biography
William Blake
He married Catherine Boucher in 1782. She was illiterate at the time and signed the marriage register with an X. He taught her to read, write, and engrave, and she became his collaborator for the next forty-five years: mixing paint, operating the printing press, hand-colouring plates, and binding the finished pages into covers.
Their working method was Blake's own invention, revealed to him (he said) in a dream by the spirit of his dead brother Robert. Relief etching reversed the standard printmaking process: instead of cutting lines into copper, Blake wrote and drew on the plate in acid-resistant varnish, then dissolved the surrounding metal with acid, leaving text and image raised. This allowed him to compose poetry and illustration simultaneously on a single plate, print them together, then hand-colour each sheet in watercolour. Every copy was therefore unique. Songs of Innocence and of Experience was produced this way. He sold fewer than thirty copies during his lifetime.
In 1803, he physically threw a soldier named John Schofield out of his garden in Felpham. He was charged with assault and with uttering treasonable expressions against the King. He was acquitted at the Chichester assizes in January 1804.
Newton, painted in 1795, shows the scientist as a young man with the body of a Greek god, bent forward at the bottom of a dark ocean, fixing his gaze on a pair of compasses, measuring and drawing on a scroll that appears to project from his own head. It is a painting about the limits of reason: beautiful, precise, and missing everything beyond the edge of the paper. The Ancient of Days, from the same period, depicts his mythological figure Urizen crouching at the edge of a void, reaching down with a compass to measure the darkness below.
He died on 12 August 1827, working on illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. He was buried at Bunhill Fields. The wider recognition came decades later.
Why Choose Us ?
Damage-free delivery guarantee
Fast Shipping
Museum-Quality Materials
You May Also Like