Job Rebuked by His Friends
1825
Medium
engraving on thick paper
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.1689
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *Job Rebuked by Friends* (1825) is a poignant engraving from his monumental series *Illustrations of the Book Job*, capturing a dramatic moment from the biblical narrative. In this scene, Job endures sharp criticism from his three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—who accuse him of hidden sin amid his suffering. Blake, a visionary poet and printmaker of the Romantic era, infuses the composition with intense emotion and symbolic depth, portraying Job's steadfast faith against a swirling backdrop of divine light and human judgment. Crafted as an engraving on thick laid paper, ...
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...