Catherine Blake - Role in Blake's Art

Role in Blake's Art

Throughout her husband's uneven career, Catherine not only took an active role in the production of William's engravings and illuminated books; she also ran the household finances and offered strong practical support. William's friend J.T. Smith said that Blake "allowed her, to the last moment of his practice, to take off his proof impressions and print his works, which she did most carefully." Catherine's role in colouring at least some of William's illuminated books has been widely acknowledged, although her hand is usually attributed to some of the more clumsily rendered passages. Her work as a printer is held in higher regard.

Read more about this topic:  Catherine Blake

Famous quotes containing the words role in, role, blake and/or art:

    My role in society, or any artist or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.
    John Lennon (1940–1980)

    The role of the writer is not simply to arrange Being according to his own lights; he must also serve as a medium to Being and remain open to its often unfathomable dictates. This is the only way the work can transcend its creator and radiate its meaning further than the author himself can see or perceive.
    Václav Havel (b. 1936)

    For Mercy has a human heart,
    Pity, a human face;
    And Love, the human form divine,
    And Peace, the human dress.
    —William Blake (1757–1827)

    We marry
    A gentler scion to the wildest stock,
    And make conceive a bark of baser kind
    By bud of nobler race. This is an art
    Which does mend nature—change it rather; but
    The art itself is nature.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)