Illustrations to Milton's "Paradise Lost"

The poetry of John Milton was important to Blake as both poet and artist from his earliest years. As he told John Flaxman in a letter of 12 September 1800, "Milton lovd me in childhood & shewd me his face" (Erdman page 707). Several early drawings, such as the Satan, Sin, and Death of c. 1780 (Butlin 101), were probably inspired by Milton. In 1790-92, Blake loosely sketched several illustrations to Paradise Lost in his Notebook (Butlin 201). He composed his first series of water colors illustrating one of Milton's poems in 1801 when the Rev. Joseph Thomas commissioned eight designs for Comus (Butlin 527). Blake produced a set of twelve Paradise Lost designs in 1807 for the same patron (Butlin 529, sometimes called the "small" set). In the next year, Blake executed another series of twelve Paradise Lost designs, with a larger format, for Thomas Butts (Butlin 536, sometimes called the "large" set).

We know from John Linnell's journal that Blake "began copies from his Drawings from Miltons P.L." on 9 May 1822 (Butlin page 388). This is almost certainly a reference to the three water colors illustrating Paradise Lost presented here (Butlin 537). They were probably commissioned by Linnell and remained in his family's possession until their dispersal at auction in 1918. It may have been Blake's intention to produce another set of twelve water colors, much as he had produced for Linnell a complete set of water colors illustrating the Book of Job in 1821, but only the three extant designs are known. They are based on the fourth, eighth, and eleventh illustrations in the Butts series. In comparison to these models, the Linnell water colors show an increased emphasis on dramatic lighting, particularly evident in the radiance surrounding Christ in "Michael Foretells the Crucifixion" (object 3).

Blake's literary response to the life and works of John Milton finds its fullest expression in the illuminated book Milton a Poem (c. 1804-10; see Related Works, below).