The Wedding.
Published 1st. August 1799 by R.Ackermann 101 Strand for Dr. I.no Trusler.
Coloured aquatint, prepared as a transparency with watercolour on the reverse. Image 305 x 230mm. 12 x 9", on paper watermarked 1794. Soiling in margins.
A wedding in a candlelit Gothic church. The Reverend Doctor John Trusler (1735-1820), clergyman, student of medicine, bookseller, and author of such works as 'Hogarth Moralized' (1768), 'The Way to be Rich and Respectable' (1750?), and 'A Sure Way to Lengthen Life with Vigor' (circa 1819). He commissioned William Blake to paint a picture to illustrate “Malevolence”, but Blake could not follow the clergyman's wishes: "I attempted every morning for a fortnight together to follow your Dictate, but when I found my attempts were in vain, resolv'd to shew an independence which I know will please an Author better than slavishly following the track of another, however admirable that track may be. At any rate, my Excuse must be: I could not do otherwise; it was out of my power!". Trusler refused Blake's work, saying he found Blake's "Fancy" to be located in the "World of Spirits" and not in this world.
[Ref: 19853] £220.00
Coloured aquatint, prepared as a transparency with watercolour on the reverse. Image 305 x 230mm. 12 x 9", on paper watermarked 1794. Soiling in margins.
A wedding in a candlelit Gothic church. The Reverend Doctor John Trusler (1735-1820), clergyman, student of medicine, bookseller, and author of such works as 'Hogarth Moralized' (1768), 'The Way to be Rich and Respectable' (1750?), and 'A Sure Way to Lengthen Life with Vigor' (circa 1819). He commissioned William Blake to paint a picture to illustrate “Malevolence”, but Blake could not follow the clergyman's wishes: "I attempted every morning for a fortnight together to follow your Dictate, but when I found my attempts were in vain, resolv'd to shew an independence which I know will please an Author better than slavishly following the track of another, however admirable that track may be. At any rate, my Excuse must be: I could not do otherwise; it was out of my power!". Trusler refused Blake's work, saying he found Blake's "Fancy" to be located in the "World of Spirits" and not in this world.
[Ref: 19853] £220.00