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
1943.3.1688
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *Job Rebuked by Friends* (1825) is a poignant engraving from his monumental series of 21 illustrations for the Book of Job, the Bible's profound tale of suffering, faith, and divine mystery. Created in the final year of Blake's life, this work captures a dramatic moment where Job's companions—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—confront him amid his trials, their gestures blending accusation and concern. Blake, a visionary artist of the Romantic era, infused the scene with his mystical worldview, portraying human anguish against ethereal, swirling forms that evoke spiritual turmoil. E...
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...