Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the organized religion.

William Blake  was one of the most influential poets and artists of his day. He himself  was influenced in early life by the Bible and later by the American and French Revolutions.William Blake was a 19th century writer, engraver and artist who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced writers and artists through the succeeding ages, and he is rightly regarded as a major poet and an original thinker.

 Born in 1757 in London, Blake began serious writing in his childhood. Blake was largely home taught (by his mother). Heavily influenced by the Bible and religious tracts he claimed to have had a vision, of a tree full of angels, at age 10 although his friend and journalist Henry Crabb Robinson wrote that Blake saw God`s head appear in a window when Blake was 4 years old. Blake’s visions had a major impact on his writing and his art.

By the age of 10 Blake was enrolled at Henry Pars`s drawing school. At age 14, he apprenticed with an engraver. In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman copy engraver, working on projects for book and print publishers. Blake was also preparing himself for a career as a painter and, also in 1779, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Art`s Schools of Design. His first exhibited work appearing the following year. Blake`s artistic energies expanded in to many areas. He privately published a collection of poems that he had written under the title “Poetical Sketches” in 1783

In August 1782, Blake married an illiterate named Catherine Sophia Boucher and he taught her how to read, write, draw and colour. Catherine believed implicitly in her husband`s genius, and supported him in everything he did, right up to his death 45 years later.

Blake`s beloved brother Robert died in 1787 from tuberculosis at age 24 and this was the source of another of his alleged visions. He saw Robert’s spirit rise and pass through the ceiling. The following year, Robert appeared to Blake in a vision and presented him with a new method of printing his works, which Blake called "illuminated printing." This method now allowed Blake to control every aspect of the production of his art.

Whilst still an established engraver Blake soon began receiving commissions to paint watercolors, including scenes from the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespeare and the Bible.

In 1800, Blake accepted an invitation from fellow poet William Hayley to move to the little seaside village of Felpham and work as his protégé. This relationship soon deteriorated. In 1803 Blake discovered John Schofield, a soldier, on the property and demanded that he leave. Following the resulting scuffle Schofield accused Blake of assault and, worse, of sedition, by claiming that he had damned the king. However Hayley hired a lawyer on Blake`s behalf, and he was acquitted in January 1804, although by this time Blake and Catherine had left Felpham and moved back to London where he began to write and illustrate Jerusalem (1804-20). This was his most ambitious work so far.

Blake also began showing more work at exhibitions (including Chaucer`s Canterbury Pilgrims and Satan Calling Up His Legions), but these works were met with indifference and the only published review was very negative and referred to Blake as "an unfortunate lunatic."

Blake was devastated by this review and the lack of attention to his works, which caused him to withdraw more and more. From 1809 to 1818, he engraved very few plates. He also sank deeper into poverty, obscurity and paranoia.

In 1819, however, Blake began sketching a series of "visionary heads," which he claimed had actually appeared and sat for him. By 1825, Blake had sketched more than 100 of these including Solomon, Merlin, "The Man Who Built the Pyramids" and  King Harold.

Artistically Blake was much busier between 1823 and 1825, engraving 21 designs for an illustrated Book of Job (from the Bible) and Dante`s Inferno. In 1824, he began a series of 102 watercolour illustrations of Dante—a project that would be cut short by Blake`s death in 1827.

In the final years of his life, William Blake suffered from recurring bouts of  a then undiagnosed disease. He died on August 12, 1827, leaving unfinished watercolour illustrations to Bunyan`s Pilgrim`s Progress as well as an illuminated manuscript of the Bible`s Book of Genesis. Blake’s obituaries tended to emphasise his personal idiosyncrasies at the expense of his artistic accomplishments. The Literary Chronicle, for example, described him as "one of those ingenious persons ... whose eccentricities were still more remarkable than their professional abilities."

However in the years following his death Blake’s true talents were gradually realised and he has since become one of the giants of literary and artistic circles. His visionary approach to both art and writing have spawned countless, spellbound speculations about him but they have also inspired a vast array of artists and writers.http://www.biography.com/people/william-blake-9214491

William Blake. . 2015. The Biography.com website. Available from:  .