1943.404: By the Waters of Babylon
DrawingsAt left, a man with a long white beard stands in profile, dressed in a long red robe, wearing a crown, and holding a scepter. Soldiers wearing armor and holding spears stand around the king, and a woman in a white dress stands by them. As she points up at musical instruments hanging in a tree, they all look down at an elderly man with shackled feet who crouches on the ground, a woman and several small children sitting beside him. At right, two other men in shackles look on. In the distance, a river winds through an ancient city.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1943.404
- People
-
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
- Title
- By the Waters of Babylon
- Classification
- Drawings
- Work Type
- drawing
- Date
- 1806
- Culture
- British
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/297976
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Watercolor, black ink and graphite on off-white wove paper
- Dimensions
- 40.3 x 37.7 cm (15 7/8 x 14 13/16 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
- Signed: W.B. 1806
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
- Thomas Butts; Thomas Butts, Jr., to; [Foster's, June 29, 1853, lot 133] sold; to H.G. Bohn. Joseph A. Paton, sold [Chapman's, Edinburgh, Nov. 10-12, 1874, lot 1189]. John Crosby, by 1876; Mrs. A. R. Crosby, sold [Sotheby's, London, April 6-8, 1925, lot 152, repr.]; to Frank Sabin. [Gabriel Wells, New York] sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, 1925, 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
- 1943.404
- Division
- European and American Art
- Contact
- am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.
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Publication History
- Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1981), no. 466, pl. 541
- Harold Fisch, The Biblical Presence in Shakespeare, Milton, and Blake, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1999), fig. 2, pp. 293-295
- Jeffrey Fontana, Timeless Beauty: Representing the Ideal in Necoclassical Drawing, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1999), checklist no. 3
- Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), cat. no. 8, repr. (color)
- Lowell Libson Ltd 2013, auct. cat., Lowell Libson Ltd (London, 2013), p. 54
Exhibition History
- Timeless Beauty: Representing the Ideal in Neoclassical Drawing, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/07/1999 - 10/31/1999
- Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002
- Re-View: S426A (Large Niche) #1: The Past and the Present: British Art of the 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/03/2010 - 11/20/2010
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