Watercolor with pen and black ink on medium, moderately textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 16 5/8 x 13 7/8 inches (42.2 x 35.2 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite, verso, lower left, encircled: "5[...]"; in graphite, verso, lower left: "BLAKE, WiLLiAM : WiSE + FOOLiSH ViRGiNS | 62/5/22/2"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.6102
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
oil lamps | robes | trumpets | judgments | women | night | virgins | houses | spires | angels | wisdom | clouds | religious and mythological subject | parable
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
The Critique of Reason : Romantic Art, 1760–1860 (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30)The Human Form Divine - William Blake from the Paul Mellon Collection (Yale Center for British Art, 1997-04-02 - 1997-07-06)William Blake (Tokyo) (The National Museum of Western Art, 1990-09-18 - 1990-11-25)William Blake - His Art & Times (Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982-12-03 - 1983-02-06)William Blake - His Art & Times (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-09-15 - 1982-11-14)William Blake [Butlin] (Whitworth Art Gallery, 1978-06-10 - 1978-07-15)William Blake [Butlin] (Tate Britain, 1978-03-08 - 1978-05-21)English Drawings and Watercolors from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20)
Publications:
A loan exhibition of English drawings and watercolours from the collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, 1964, frontispiece, no. 1, Pl. 1, N5247.M385 L62 (YCBA)Brian Allen, The Sport of Collecting : Paul Mellon and British Art, Apollo, vol.165, April 2007, pp. 34, 36, fig. 3, N1 A54 + (YCBA)An exhibition of English drawings and water colors from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, February 18-April 1, 1962, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1962, pp. 7, 30, no. 4, pl. 4, NC228 U6 (YCBA) Copy 2 is on Mellon ShelfNaomi Billingsley, The visionary art of William Blake: Christianity, Romanticism and the Pictorial Imagination, I.B. Tauris, London ; New York, plate 9, NJ18.B57 B55 2018 (LC) (YCBA)David Bindman, William Blake : His art and times, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1982, pp. 172-73, no. 113, NJ18 .B57 B524 (LC)+ Oversize YCBAMartin Butlin, William Blake, Tate Publishing, London, 1978, p. 91, no. 173, NJ18 .B57 B87 (LC)+ Oversize YCBAEnglish Drawings and Watercolours from the Mellon Collection, The Times (London), , December 15, 1964, p. 6, Available online: The Times Digital Archive Also available on Microfilm: Film An T482 (SML)Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 5, ND466 .G67 (YCBA)Matthew Hargraves, William Blake and Paul Mellon : the life of the mind, Open Knowledge Foundation, New York, 2014, [ pp. 3, 4 ], fig. 3, V 2557Matthew Hargraves, William Blake and Paul Mellon : the life of the mind, Open Knowledge Foundation, New York, 2014, [ pp. 3, 4 ], fig. 3, http://openglam.org/2014/10/07/william-blake-and-paul-mellon-the-life-of-the-mindNational Museum of Western Art (Tokyo), Uiriamu bureiku ten : William Blake, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc., Tokyo, 1990, pp. 171, 270, no. 49, NJ18 .B57 U3 1990 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA)Patrick Noon, The human form divine : William Blake from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1997, pp. 69, 82, NJ18 .B57 N66 (LC) YCBAPainting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, v.1: p. 202, no. 387, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA)The Yale Center for British Art : An Anniversary Celebration of Paul Mellon's Great Legacy, , Apollo, April 2007, pp. 34, 36, fig. 3, N5220 M552 A7 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Appeared as April 2007 issue of Apollo; all of the articles may also be found in bound Apollo Volume [N1 A54 165:2 +]Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 76-77, no. 31, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA)Yale University Art Gallery, English drawings and watercolors from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, April 15-June 20,1965, , New Haven, 1965, no. 1, frontispiece, NC228 Y34 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Between 1799 and 18o9 Blake produced an extensive set of biblical illustrations for Thomas Butts, a government clerk of modest means who was an enthusiastic supporter of Blake’s art. This watercolor of the parable found in Matthew 25:1-13, a version of the subject originally painted for Butts in 18o5, was made for the engraver William Haines of Chichester. Blake illustrates the moment when the writhing, foolish virgins discover they have no more oil for their lamps and the upright wise virgins refuse to share theirs. Blake has adapted his iconography from a traditional image of the judgment of souls. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)