- Title:
- A Shepherd Reading the Epitaph (Design 115)
- Additional Title(s):
Verso: A Spirit Conducted to Paradise (Design 116)
Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard- Part Of:
- Date:
- between 1797 and 1798
- Materials & Techniques:
- Watercolor with pen and black ink and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper with inlaid letterpress page
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 16 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches (41.9 x 32.4 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in black ink upper right: "11"; on verso in black ink upper left: "12."; in gray ink center: "To M.rs Ann Flaxman | A little Flower grew in a lonely Vale | Its form was lovely. but its colours pale | One standing in Porches of the Sun | When his Meridian Glories were begun | Leapd from the steps of fire & on the grass | Alighted where this little flower was | With hands divine he movd the gentle Sod | And took the Flower up in its native Clod | Then planting it upon a Mountains brow | 'Tis your own fault if you dont flourish now | (underlined) William Blake"
Lettered on inlaid page: "COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD. 157 | The EPITAPH. | HERE rests his head upon the lap of Earth | A Youth, to Fortune and to Fame unknown: | Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, | And Melancholy mark'd him for her own. | Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, | Heav'n did a recompence as largely send: | He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear, | He gain'd from Heav'n, 'twas all he wish'd, a | Friend. | No farther seek his merits to disclose, | Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, | (There they alike in trembling hope repose,) | The bosom of his Father and his God. | L2 NOTES.";
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1992.8.11(58)
- Classification:
- Drawings & Watercolors
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- angels | clouds | grass | hat | leaf | literary theme | man | religious and mythological subject | sarcophagus | sky | staff (walking stick) | text | tomb | tree | walking sticks | women
- Access:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3596
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
William Blake - The Artist (Tate Britain, 2019-09-11 - 2020-02-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
Colin Cross, Blake revealed, William Blake : Discovery of a Masterwork , Observer, vol. 12, November 21, 1971, pp. 19-23, V 1245 Detached from Observer colour magazine [ORBIS]
Arnold Fawcus, Unknown Watercolours by William Blake, Illustrated London News, vol. 259, No. 6881, December 25, 1971, pp. 45-46, 49-51, Illustrated London News Historical Archive [ORBIS]
William Blake, Tate Publishing, London, p. 111, p. 112, cat. 86 (recto), cat. 87 (verso), NJ18.B57 M97 2019 (LC) Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]