Illustrations to Milton's "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity"

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; see Related Works, below). 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). In 1809, Blake produced for Thomas a set of six illustrations to Milton's "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (Butlin 538). Blake repeated the same basic "Nativity Ode" designs, with many minor but intriguing variations, for his main patron, Thomas Butts, in about 1815 (Butlin 542). This later series is presented here. The date is based on stylistic considerations--see the Note following Composition Date on the Work Information page. When sold at auction in 1852, the water colors were accompanied by the poem, or possibly only the passages illustrated, in manuscript. This now-lost text may have been written by Blake, like the transcriptions in his hand of the passages illustrated still with his "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" illustrations (Butlin 543).

Blake's interest in the "Nativity Ode" began long before his execution of the Thomas set of water colors. His illuminated book, Europe a Prophecy (1794), clearly shows the influence of Milton's ode. By 1809, Blake may have taken a renewed interest in the poem because of his increasingly Christocentric theological views. His harsh criticism of classical civilization resonates with two of the "Nativity" designs, "The Old Dragon" and "The Overthrow of Apollo and the Pagan Gods" (objects 3 and 4). Modern critics have been hard pressed to find Blake dissenting from Milton's own iconography and perspectives in the ode.

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).