Job and His Family
1825
Medium
engraving on thick paper
Dimensions
plate: 19.9 × 16.5 cm (7 13/16 × 6 1/2 in.) sheet: 29.6 × 21.8 cm (11 5/8 × 8 9/16 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.1657
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *Job and His Family* (1825) is the opening engraving from his monumental series *Illustrations of the Book Job*, a profound visual meditation on the biblical patriarch's trials and triumphs. Created near the end of Blake's life, this work captures Job in prosperity, surrounded by his wife and ten children, offering a serene counterpoint to the suffering that follows in the Book of Job. As a cornerstone of Romantic art, Blake's vision blends mysticism, symbolism, and spiritual intensity, reflecting his lifelong fascination with faith, providence, and the human soul's divine spar...
About the Artist
William Blake · 1757–1827
William Blake (1757–1827) stands as one of the most visionary and unconventional artists in British history, a poet-painter-printmaker whose mystical imagination and radical vision profoundly shaped the Romantic movement. Born in London's Soho district, Blake experienced visions from childhood—claiming to see angels in trees at age eight—and these spiritual encounters would guide his art throughou...