Songs of Experience: The Chimney Sweeper
[1794] printed ca. 1825
Medium
Relief etching printed in orange-brown ink and hand-colored with watercolor and shell gold
Dimensions
sheet: 6 3/16 x 5 9/16 in. (15.7 x 14.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1917
Accession Number
17.10.37
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *Songs of Experience: Theney Sweeper* (1794, printed ca. 1825) is a poignant illuminated print from his revolutionary *Songs of Experience*, a counterpart to his earlier *Songs of Innocence This work captures Blake's Romantic critique of industrial society's cruelty, particularly the exploitation of child chimney sweeps in 18th- and 19th-century England. The poem's stark verses contrast the innocence of youth with the harsh realities of poverty and false piety, urging viewers to confront systemic injustice through visionary art. Blake's innovative relief etching technique—his ...
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...