Blake (Attributed to), William (1757 – 1827) – Head of a Man, probably for Ree’s Cyclopœdia; ‘Ancient Musical Instruments and Masks’ (Plate II) or possibly ‘Armour’ (Plate IV & V).

The following text by Robert Essick is from 'Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly', 30.4 (Spring 1997), page 111… 'Head of a Man, attributed to Blake. Pencil, 5 × 4 cm. on sheet 8.5 × 6 cm. Collection of David Bindman, who first suggested that this work may be by Blake. Bindman discovered this drawing in an album once in the possession of the family of the engraver Wilson Lowry (1762-1824) containing many drawings by the Lowry family and by John Varley. This context suggests that the drawing may be connected with Abraham Rees, The Cyclopœdia (1820), a publication for which Blake engraved 7 plates and Lowry a great many. The image in Rees closest to this drawing is to my eye the "Mask of the Hercules furens of Euripides from a Marble in the Palace Albani in Rome" illustrated on plate 2 of "Ancient Musical Instruments & Masks." There are a number of differences, including the Assyrian or Babylonian, rather than Grecian, style of the drawn head or mask. The plate is unsigned; but the precedent for Blake having sketched an image for an unsigned plate in Rees has been established by Butlin #678, a sheet bearing pencil studies of a sphinx and Jupiter engraved on "Basso Relievo" plate 1. Bindman, in correspondence, has questioned this connection and suggests that the drawing may represent medieval armor. Blake engraved a plate for Rees titled "Armour Plate IV & V," but nothing in it or any of the other armor illustrations corresponds to the drawing. Nonetheless, both Bindman and I believe that this very small drawing is probably by Blake'.

1 in stock