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
1943.3.1677
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *Satan Smiting Job Boils* (1825) is a powerful engraving from his monumental series *Illustrations of the Book of Job*, a set of 22 plates that reinterpret the biblical tale of suffering and divine testing. Depicting the moment when Satan afflicts the righteous Job with painful boils as described in the Book of Job (2:7), the image captures Blake's visionary intensity, blending human anguish with supernatural menace. Created during the late Romantic period, it reflects Blake's lifelong fascination with spiritual struggle, prophecy, and the sublime. Printed as a relief etching ...
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...