The Lord Answering Job out of the Whirlwind
1825
Medium
engraving on thick paper
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.1698
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *The Lord Answering Job of the Whirlwind*1825) is a captivating engraving from his monumental series *Illustrations of the Book Job*, one of 22 plates that represent the culmination of the visionary artist's lifelong engagement with the biblical narrative. Depicting the climactic moment from Job 38, where God speaks to the suffering patriarch from a tempestuous whirlwind, the work captures Blake's profound fascination with divine mystery, human endurance, and spiritual revelation. Created late in Blake's life (1757–1827), it reflects the Romantic era's emphasis on emotion, imag...
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...