Man Attacked by Dogs and a Devil - William Blake
Archival giclée
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Description
A dramatic engraving by William Blake from his 1797 series illustrating Edward Young's poem, Night Thoughts, depicting a struggle between a man, hounds, and a devil.
This engraving is a plate from William Blake's ambitious project to illustrate Edward Young's poem, Night Thoughts. Blake produced these designs between 1795 and 1797, creating a series of large-scale watercolours that were subsequently engraved for publication. The composition features a central text block surrounded by Blake's characteristic linear style, where the figures are defined by clear, firm outlines.
The scene depicts a dramatic, allegorical struggle. A human figure lies prostrate on the ground, beset by two hounds, while a grotesque, grinning devil looms over the victim, holding a spear. The devil's expression is one of malicious glee, contrasting with the desperate plight of the human figure below. Blake's approach to the human form is muscular and expressive, reflecting his interest in classical anatomy filtered through his own visionary lens. The surrounding foliage is rendered with repetitive, rhythmic strokes, creating a textured backdrop that frames the central action.
Blake's work on Night Thoughts represents a significant period in his career, where he balanced his own poetic vision with the requirements of a commercial commission. The interplay between the printed text and the surrounding image creates a unified page design, a technique Blake refined throughout his life. The engraving captures the tension of the poem's themes regarding mortality, ambition, and the vanity of worldly pursuits. The stark contrast between the light-toned figures and the detailed, dark hatching of the background foliage demonstrates his mastery of the burin. This print offers a glimpse into the late eighteenth-century British approach to book illustration, where the visual and the literary were deeply intertwined.
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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.
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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
Man Attacked by Dogs and a Devil - 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.
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