Satan Smiting Job with Boils
1825
Medium
engraving on thick paper
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.1675
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *Satan Smiting Job with Boils* (1825) is a powerful engraving from his monumental series *Illustrations of the Book of Job*, drawing from the biblical tale of Job's trials. Created late in Blake's life, it captures the moment when Satan afflicts the righteous Job with painful boils, symbolizing profound suffering and divine testing. Blake, a visionary Romantic artist and poet, infused his works with mystical spirituality, blending intricate line work with dramatic contrasts to evoke human anguish and cosmic struggle. Rendered as an engraving on thick paper—a medium Blake maste...
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...