A running messenger approaches an elderly couple seated by stone columns.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Entering from the left, a male figure in a toga runs toward a couple seated at right. He gestures toward them with his open left hand, and points backward with his outstretched right hand, an expression of alarm on his face. As sheep graze around them on the ground, the couple sit beside large stone columns, both their faces showing distress. They fold their hands and look up to the sky. At left in the distance, a figure running away looks back at the scene.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.421
People
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
Title
And I Only Am Escaped (The Book of Job)
Other Titles
Alternate Title: The Messengers Tell Job of his Misfortunes
Series/Book Title: The Book of Job
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1821
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297592

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor, black ink and graphite on cream laid paper
Dimensions
20.8 x 28 cm (8 3/16 x 11 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • watermark: GM

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville Lindall Winthrop, New York, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.421
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Agnes Mongan, "The Fogg Art Museum's Collection of Drawings", Harvard Library Bulletin, Harvard University (Cambridge, 1958), vol. 3, no. 2, March, pp. 5-9, p. 202
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), pp. 140-141, no. 97, repr. p. 141
  • Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1981), no. 551 (4), pl. 736
  • David Bindman, ed., William Blake's Illustrations to the Book of Job, The William Blake Trust (London, England, 1987), repr. ill. B on p. 3 of pl. 4, "And I only am escaped alone to tell thee"

Related Objects

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu