Canto I

1779–1785

Rebelling against Reynolds at the Academy

At the Royal Academy Blake rebelled against what he regarded as the unfinished style of fashionable painters such as Rubens, championed by the first president, Joshua Reynolds, and over time came to detest Reynolds' pursuit of “general truth” and “general beauty”. Against Reynolds' fashionable oil painting he preferred the classical precision of Michelangelo and Raphael.

1780–1808

Exhibits six times at the Royal Academy

Despite his antagonism towards Reynolds, Blake submitted works to the Royal Academy on six occasions between 1780 and 1808.

1784–1785 · Residenza

Broadwick Street

1785–1791 · Residenza

Poland Street

1788

Invents relief etching

In 1788, aged 31, Blake invented relief etching, or “illuminated printing”: text and designs are drawn on a copper plate in acid-resistant ink and etched so that the protected areas stand in relief, and the printed pages are coloured by hand in watercolours. He used it for most of his well-known works, including “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”, “The Book of Thel”, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” and “Jerusalem”.