The Canterbury Pilgrims
1810
Medium
engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.8992
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *The Canterbury Pilgrims*1810) is a monumental engraving that vividly captures the spirit of Geoffrey Chaucer's th-century masterpiece, * Canterbury Tales*. Blake, a visionary artist of the Romantic era, depicts the motley procession of pilgrims journeying from London to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. Each figure—from the Knight and Wife of Bath to the Pardoner and Summoner—is rendered with meticulous detail, drawn directly from Chaucer's colorful characterizations, transforming a medieval narrative into a timeless celebration of human diversity and storytelling. A...
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...