Man Touching a Sphere from a Cloud - William Blake
Archival giclée
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Description
A fine art print of William Blake's engraving for Edward Young's Night Thoughts, depicting a celestial figure interacting with the physical world.
This engraving originates from William Blake's ambitious project to illustrate Edward Young's lengthy poem, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. Commissioned by the publisher Richard Edwards in 1795, the project occupied Blake for two years. He produced over five hundred watercolours, from which forty-three were selected for engraving. This specific plate depicts a figure emerging from a cloud, reaching down to touch a terrestrial sphere, a visual metaphor for the divine interaction with the physical world described in Young's text.
Blake's approach to these illustrations is distinct. He did not merely decorate the margins of the text. Instead, he integrated his imagery with the printed verses, creating a dialogue between the poetic word and the visual form. The figure is rendered with the muscularity and anatomical precision characteristic of Blake's neoclassical training, yet the composition possesses a dreamlike quality. The contrast between the ethereal, swirling clouds and the solid, hatched surface of the sphere creates a sense of cosmic scale. The engraving technique relies on fine, controlled lines to define form and shadow, allowing the white of the paper to suggest light and spiritual presence.
As a printmaker, Blake was meticulous. He often hand-coloured his engravings, though many copies of the Night Thoughts series remain in monochrome. The work reflects the artist's preoccupation with spiritual themes and his rejection of purely rationalist interpretations of existence. By placing the human figure in direct contact with the globe, Blake visualises the poem's argument regarding the soul's relationship to the material realm. This piece offers a glimpse into the collaborative nature of eighteenth-century book production and the singular vision of one of Britain's most idiosyncratic artists.
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
Man Touching a Sphere from a Cloud - 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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