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Blake's Engravings and his Friendship with
Flaxman
by
G. E. Bentley, Jr.
An ill-wisher once wrote that the "public reputation" of William Blake was largely "the reputation of eccentricity".[1] The libel had just enough truth in it to make it sting. Blake's professional success as an engraver depended on his securing the interest of the public or the enthusiasm of a publisher, and both tasks were conspicuously beyond his own unaided powers. His most ambitious undertakings, the illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts, Job and Dante, involving hundreds of drawings and engravings, were commercial failures. As a consequence, Blake depended very heavily upon his friends for his spiritual and physical well-being; from them he derived sporadic admiration and a relatively steady stream of commissions. Among the earliest of Blake's friends, and perhaps the most valuable, was John Flaxman, one of the greatest sculptors England has produced. For half a lifetime Flaxman found praise and patrons for his fiery friend, during the years when all Blake's greatest mature poetry was being written, from the Songs of Innocence to Jerusalem. Flaxman's bread-and-butter friendship was responsible for much of that margin of financial security Blake occasionally achieved, and for endless workaday commissions. Blake's gratitude for such practical help was shown in spiritual praise. In 1800 he wrote:
Soon after his apprenticeship ended in 1779, Blake met Flaxman[3] and immediately struck up a friendship with the young man who was just two years his senior. Flaxman soon showed the quality of his friendship by introducing Blake to an early patroness of his, Mrs. Mathew, a blue-stocking of thoroughly Gothic inclinations. Mrs. Mathew moved with a group of what Blake called "the Cunning-sures & the aim-at-yours",[4] and she encouraged ambitious young artists to come and perform at her literary evenings. Almost nothing is known of Mr. and Mrs. Mathew, but there can be no doubt that they had, in some respects, excellent taste and perception; in spite of Blake's continued indifference to the project, they with Flaxman introduced the poet to the public by printing his Poetical Sketches in 1783.[5] Though these scarcely made an impression for fifty years, they were, as Swinburne said, "not simply better than any man could do then; [but] better than all except the greatest have done since: better too than some still ranked among the greatest ever managed to do."[6] Few Cunning-sures have performed a greater service to literature.
Flaxman remained on close terms with Mrs. Mathew and her husband for the rest of his life, and his letters are full of his gratitude to them. Within a year or two of the publication of his Poetical Sketches Blake became alienated from Mrs. Mathew's cosy conversaziones. The pattern thus established was to repeat itself over and over; Flaxman introduced Blake to people of taste and liberality, and the poet could not suppress his opinions or temper sufficiently to keep his hard won patrons. It seems likely that Blake's marriage may have influenced his disagreement with the Mathews. Flaxman had been courting a girl named Nancy Denman in the early 1780s, but Miss Denman's father had opposed her marriage to a penniless sculptor of obscure prospects; clearly he felt that Miss Denman would be marrying beneath her. However, with the help of Mrs. Mathew, Flaxman's courtship prospered, and on June 23rd 1782 he and Miss Denman were married. During these same years Blake was courting the illiterate daughter of a market gardner named Catherine Boucher, and a legend has survived that Blake's father was opposed to the match, perhaps on the ground that Blake would be marrying beneath him. Just eleven weeks after the Flaxman's marriage, on August 18th 1782 Blake and Catherine Boucher were married, the bride signing her name with an X. It seems reasonable to suppose that Catherine Blake would have made a most anomalous figure in the sophisticated, highly literary gatherings of Mrs. Mathew.
During these years Flaxman and Blake were struggling for success in the creative arts while supporting themselves by the most tedious journeyman labor, Flaxman by designing pottery for the Wedgwood firm and Blake by engraving for the booksellers after the designs of more successful artists. The great thing both of them wanted was commissions to display their creative talents for profit. Flaxman's genius was thoroughly adapted to the spirit of the times, and his tepid pseudoclassical designs were acclaimed by a steadily widening range of patrons. Blake's genius was more independent and perverse, and wealthy patrons tended to fight shy of him. Most of his life his patrons seem to have been motivated as much by friendship and pity as by their conviction of his transcendant genius, and Blake was a difficult man to be friends with. Many of his earliest commissions came to him, not because his reputation for ability had spread abroad, but because his friends assiduously introduced him to prospective customers. Flaxman probably did more in the way of finding engraving work than any other man in the dark days when Blake took his works to the desolate market and none came to buy.
Flaxman was at ease with the chisel, not the pen, and his syntax is often as perplexing as Blake's punctuation. However, he worked quietly and determinedly in Blake's interests for over thirty years, and in the letters that survive we can get occasional glimpses of the success of his efforts. The earliest reference to Blake is on June 18th 1783 when Flaxman reported to his bride Nancy that a young gentleman of their own age,
In 1787 Flaxman went to Italy to study classical statuary, a step which he said was "absolutely necessary to [his] improvement".[11] During the seven years he was abroad he probably wrote to Blake now and then, but Blake was never a reliable correspondent. On November 21st 1791 Nancy wrote to Mary Flaxman: "pray call on Mr Blake & beg of him to answer your Brothers Letter directly" [F.P., I, 56]. Evidently even this produced no satisfactory results, for on November 20th 1793 Nancy was still asking Mary Flaxman, "know you anything of Stothard or Blake?"[12]
At this time Flaxman was becoming more and more absorbed in the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg. He was probably responsible for Blake's early interest in Swedenborg, and indirectly for Blake's presence at the meeting to organize the New Church in April 1789.[13] This is particularly significant, because it is the only religious group to which Blake is known to have belonged. Flaxman believed firmly in Swedenborg's ideas to the end of his life, though he was not a member of the church; Blake was disillusioned within a year of his joining. Flaxman's mind was pious and conventional, and the differences between the two men are well illustrated by a story Blake's friends were fond of telling.
Flaxman: "How do you get on with Fuseli? I can't stand his foul-mouthed swearing. Does he swear at you?"
Blake: "He does."
Flaxman: "And what do you do?"
Blake: "What do I do? Why—I swear again! and he says astonished, 'Vy, Blake, you are svaring!'—but he leaves off himself!"[14]
Flaxman probably would not have approved of Blake's bitter couplet:
"Why of the sheep do you not learn peace?"
"Because I don't want you to shear my fleece."[15]
Soon after he returned from Rome in 1794, Flaxman began ascending the heights of popularity, and his commissions were reckoned in thousands of pounds. About this time Blake found himself a modest and reliable patron in Thomas Butts,[16] but during the last six years of the century he is not known to have made illustrations for more than a dozen or so books, and commissions were always welcome. He was particularly in need of work after his enormous undertaking for Edwards' edition of Young's Night Thoughts had failed in 1797 and 1798.[17] During these years Flaxman's old patron William Hayley was composing a poetic Essay on Sculpture, with a great display of classical erudition tending to prove that Phydias and Praxiteles had found a fitting successor in John Flaxman. By the end of 1799 the work was finished, and on December 21st Hayley sought Flaxman's advice, as he usually did, about engravings and engravers:
My very dear Flaxman
as I find our good enthusiastic Friend Blake will (in his Zeal to render the Portraits of our beloved scholar more worthy of Him) extend the time of his Residence in the south a little longer than we at first proposed, I shall not wait to transmit my Thanks to you for a Letter of infinite Kindness by the worthy Engraver on his Return.— . . .
The good Blake is taking great pains to render all the Justice in his Power to Romneys exquisite Portrait of Him, & I hope the two next prints will atone for all the defects of the engraved Medallion—
It will please you to hear that, as a Tribute to the Genius of our poor disabled Romney, we have preserv'd, & I think improv'd, in a Copy of considerable size, the Miltonic design of our old Friend, that you remember on the Boards of Demogorgons Hall, as we us'd to call his p[ainting] apartment—But I [shall le]ave the good Blake to [carry] on with a History of what He h[as] done in the South on his Return, & only add at present his kind Remembrance to you & yr dear Nancy with the cordial Benediction
of yr ever
affectionate & afflicted
Hermit
July 16 1800
pray assure Nancy with my Love to her, that such a little Book as she desires shall travel to Her by the Favor of Blake—I was highly gratified by the Kind presents from Messieurs Hawkins & Townley which you were so good as to send me under his friendly Care—adieu—[27]
Blake's visit evidently changed Hayley's early bad impression, for
Accept, most[?] visionary Blake,
Sublimely fanciful & kindly mild,
And favorably[?] guard[?] for friendships sake
This favored vision my poetic Child.
To thy most tender mind this Book will be,
The Book belonged to my departed Son;
Thus from an Angel it descends to Thee.[28]
Sublimely fanciful and kindly mild! Hayley seems to have been as mistaken about Blake as Blake was about Hayley.
In the beginning of August Hayley finally made up his mind to write the biography of Cowper which he had been considering for several months, and he invited Blake to come live in Felpham and work under his patronage, on engravings for the Cowper biography to begin with. With the approval of his friends in London, Blake arranged to move out in September. On August 19th Flaxman wrote to Hayley:
It is to you I owe All my present Happiness. It is to you I owe perhaps the Principal Happiness of my life.
Flaxman continued to turn patrons toward Blake, but his own tone became noticeably patronizing, the tone of a competent and successful middle-aged man addressing an impoverished friend from his aspiring youth. On October 7th 1801 Flaxman wrote on the back of his letter to Hayley:
Dear Blake
I rejoice in Your happiness & contentment under the kind & affectionate auspices of our Friend, Mrs: Flaxman & myself would feel no small gratification in a visit of participation in the domestic Innocence & satisfaction of your rural retreat; but the same Providence that has given retirement to You, has placed me in a great City where my employments continually exact an attention neither to be remitted or delayed, & thus the All besto[wing] Hand deals out happiness to his creatures when they are sensible of His Goodness; the little commissions I troubled you with in my last are such as one friend offers unwillingly to another on account of the Scanty recompence, but I know you relieve yourself from more tedious labours by Composition & Design, when they are done let me have them & I will take care to get the money for you, My Wife unites in love to you & Mrs: Blake.
with your affectionate
J Flaxman
[30]
On October 18th Hayley replied to Flaxman's letter:
It affords a lively Gratification to your two warm-hearted Friends, the Hermit & the artist of Felpham, to find, that you remember us both so Kindly, in the midst of your grand Occupations.—
Be assured, we both take a most friendly Interest in the happy Progress of all your noble Works!—we are both following your excellent Example in point of Industry; & shall rejoice, if we make any near approaches to you in the Merit, & Felicity of our Labours.—With all of these you will in Time be made acquainted, since however deficient they may be, they will not fail to interest, in some Measure, a Friend, whose Feelings are so benevolently warm.—it is with great delight I assure you, that our good Blake grows more & more attach'd to this pleasant marine village, & seems to gain in it a perpetual Increase of improving Talents, & settled Comfort.—. . . [Hayley encloses an epitaph on his wife:]
Tender as Charity, as Bounty Kind,
If these were Blessings, that to Life could give
a Lot, which makes it Happiness to live;
Thou, fair Eliza! had'st been blest on Earth:
But Seraphs in Compassion wept thy Birth;
For thy deep nervous Woes, of wondrous Weight,
Love could not heal, nor Sympathy relate:
Yet Pity trusts, with hallow'd Truth serene,
Thy God o'er-pays them in a purer Scene.
Peace to thy Ashes! to thy Memory, Love!
and to thy spirit, in the Realms above,
all, that from blameless sufferings below
Mortality can hope, or Angels Know!
adio! carissimo Principe dei Scolptori!—I leave the next page for Blake to fill—with Kind remembrance to Nancy & our united Benediction to you both
ever your most sincere & affectionate
Hermit[31]
And in his letter on the next page Blake identified the latest patron whom Flaxman had sent to him:
For his life of Cowper, Hayley wanted to use a portrait of Cowper by Romney, but he was deterred by Lady Hesketh's intense dislike of the picture, and Lady Hesketh had to be conciliated because she had many of the letters and poems upon which Hayley depended. To confirm himself in his opinion, therefore, Hayley asked Flaxman's advice; on January 18th 1802 he wrote in a postscript:
In the engraving of Cowper I think my friend Blake has kept the spirit of the likeness most perfectly the eyes are exceedingly well, & in the finishing I presume the extremities of the nose & mouth will be softened which at present appear rather harsh,
with kindest wishes & remembrance from Mrs: Flaxman to Yourself & Mr & Mrs: Blake I have the honour to remain [etc.] [F.H.] [.]
Upon such authoritative confirmation, Blake and Hayley went ahead
with your sincere & affectionate
Hermit [H.C., IX]
In his next letters Hayley's interest had turned to the problem of a monument to Cowper which he wanted Flaxman to make. However, he himself had made a design for the monument, and on February 25th he explained that "our Friend Blake was so Kind as to make me some neat Copies of my design", which he enclosed.[34] On the same day Flaxman replied that "having therefore examined Mr: Blake's drawing for the Monument, repeatedly, I am of opinion, that altho' the emblems are very proper . . .", the design might with propriety be alterred, and he ended his letter "with love to Mr: Mrs: Blake in which Nancy unites to them & yourself".[35] As a consequence of this difference of opinion poor Blake was kept busy copying sketches to get support for Hayley's point of view. On March 24th Hayley again wrote to Flaxman: "I hope Blake's drawing express'd my Idea"; and at the end of his letter he added that "The Kind industrious Blake by my side unites in this Benediction & in every good wish to you & Nancy" [H.C., IX].
During most of the rest of the spring Blake's and Hayley's energies were expended on a series of Ballads about Animals which Hayley wrote and gave to Blake to illustrate and sell, one at a time, for his own profit.[36] Hayley peddled the Ballads indefatigably among his friends, but though everyone liked the Ballads themselves, there were some elementary criticisms of the engravings: that the babies weren't pretty enough, that the ladies lacked feminine grace. Hayley sent a heavy consignment of Ballads for Flaxman to market in London, at the same time asking for encouragement about the quality of the engravings. Flaxman's reply of June 27th was most encouraging; not only had he sold more copies than most of Hayley's Ballad-mongers, but he praised Blake's work as well:
As 1802 wore on Hayley began to discover that he knew what was good for Blake better than Blake did, and the realization began to obsess Blake that Hayley was an interfering busybody. Relations between the two men became strained, and Hayley's references to Blake in his letters became perfunctory or disappeared completely. Flaxman was unaffected, however, and on August 14th, just before he left for Paris, he sent "love to Mr: Mrs: Blake & Yourself in which Mrs: F unites" [F.H.]. He added a postscript to his letter to Hayley of November 2nd: "Pray give our love to Mr. & Mrs: Blake" [B.M., 37,538, f 4]; and in her letter of December 10th Nancy asked Hayley to "give our Love to the good Cottagers—"[38] On December 16th, Hayley added a P.S. to his letter to Nancy: "poor Mrs Blake has suffer'd most severely from Rheumatism but she is reviving—They return yr good wishes—" [H.C., IX]. On March 21st 1803 Flaxman wrote to say, "I hope you & your Household with Mr: & Mrs: Blake have escaped the Influenza".[39]
By January 1803 Blake had had his fill of Hayley. On the 30th of that month he wrote to his brother James:
Gradually the breach between Hayley and Blake widened; Blake began to demand rights Hayley had never heard of, and Hayley did not know how to react. He continued to do his best for Blake, however. On August 7th 1803 he wrote to Flaxman about the drawings Flaxman's sister-in-law, Maria Denman, had made for Hayley's depressing poem entitled Triumphs of Temper:
the Engravings were made from the drawings in the State I found them except the omission of one Figure (the tall Minerva) that Blake & I thought it would be better to omit[?]—I am sorry to say that the Ladies (& it is a Ladys Book) find Fault with the engravings—our poor industrious Blake has received sixty Guineas for them from my Bookseller & I believe both the artist & the paymaster are dissatisfied on the occasion—The Engravings of Cowper have been also heavily censur'd but I think in the Portrait from Lawrence very unjustly for Blake was certainly more faithful than Bartolozzi in the original drawing—I wish our Friend may be more fortunate in the engravings that He is now beginning to decorate a Life of our lost Romney— . . .
Blake has made two excellent drawings of Romney one from his own large picture the other from our dear disciples Medallion—I thought of having both engraved for a single quarto volume of his Life—but Blake
On August 24th Flaxman replied:
It took a treason trial to restore good relations between the two men. Hayley does not seem to have told Flaxman that about two weeks before the date of the last letter Blake had removed an objectionable soldier from his garden, and had been promptly charged with treason and sedition. In the subsequent disagreeable proceedings Hayley stood by Blake nobly, went bail for him, testified as to his loyal character, and paid his lawyer. Thereafter Blake remembered pretty consistently that, however silly Hayley's ideas and poems were, there could be no doubt that he meant well. To show his gratitude, Blake did a great deal of research for Hayley's biography of Romney during the next few years, largely under the direction, or with the advice, of Flaxman.
On January 2nd 1804, shortly before Blake's trial, Flaxman wrote to Hayley:
Dear and Kind Friend
Mr: Blake's opinion that the drawing sent from Norfolk may be
advantageously engraved for the ensuing volume of Cowper's life as an
agreable perspective of the Situation, seems very just, whilst the Monument
itself may be represented on a larger Scale in a Vignette, and for the
materials on this subject he will be at no loss—I sincerely wish with
You
that the Tryal was over, that our poor friend's peace of mind might be
restored, altho' I have no doubt from what I have heard of the Soldier's
character and the merits of the case that the bill will at least be thrown out
by the Court as groundless & vexatious—Blake's irritability as
well as
the Association & arrangement of his ideas do not seem likely to be
Soothed or more advantageously disposed by any power inferior to That by
which man is originally endowed with his faculties—I wish all our
defects
were fewer, certainly my own among the rest—but if we really are
desirous this should come to pass, we are told to
Whom & by what means we should apply.
I wonder my Good Friend as You admired the Genius of Romney so much that You do not remember the whole Catalogue of his Chalk Cartoons . . . . I hope they exist in a perfect State, & if they do, they are well worth etching in a bold manner which I think Blake is likely to do with great success & perhaps at an expence that will not be burthensome—but at any rate give him one to do first for a tryal . . . . I have troubled You by Mr. Blake with a Short tract written for Dr: Rees's Cyclopedia, on Basso Relievo, with one of the prints [by Parker] referred to at the end of the article, the rest are not yet engraven . . . . A happy release from his afflictions to poor Blake, & to you my Dear Friend many happy years unclouded by misfortune or Sorrow[.][43]
Flaxman remained faithful to Blake's interests, and continued to look for work for him, while Blake continued to cause difficulty by his casual approach to business. On January 4th Prince Hoare wrote to Flaxman:
Being disappointed of a proper copy of my pamphlet [of Academic Correspondence, 1803] & proof of Mr Blake's Etching which I hoped to have sent you today, I will not longer delay thanking you for your dissertation on Bas relief, which I have read with very great admiration.[44]
Evidently Blake and Hayley were still haggling over money. Blake, as we have seen, had been promised the engravings to Hayley's biography of Romney, but Hayley began to think it would be better to have someone else do them, and he suggested to Flaxman that Caroline Watson might be a good choice. Flaxman was obviously distressed at this change, and made it clear to Hayley that he wanted no part of the new arrangement.
June 8th 1804
Dear & Kind Friend
The drawing you sent arrived safe & I think is very prettily concieved & delicately executed, however before I spoke to Caroline Watson concerning the engraving I was willing to know the probable expence by consulting a friend who is a very great Artist in that way [Stothard?], he told me that the abovementioned lady engraves in the dotted manner only, which is not fit for the decoration of Books, & that the lowest expence of such a plate will be 35 Guineas, you will decide on the price & manner, then let me know your determination— . . . I beg you will countermand your desire that Blake should buy the additional plates to the Homer when published for I shall send them to beg your acceptance sufficiently ashamed that they are no return for the many presents you have sent to me of a kind so much more valuable—[46]
Hayley must have replied promptly, for on June 16th Flaxman wrote again:
June 18th 1804
My very Dear Flaxman
If I interpreted literally an expression in a Letter of our so lively Friend Blake, who says "London among authors & artists of every kind is a city of assassinations, where every thing is reckoned fair in destroying those we happen to dislike". I should apprehend, that even my Dear magnanimous sculpter had struck with a Barberous stiletto, the Reputation of Caroline The Engraver but as I hold it to be an utter impossibility, that you can act or speak unjustly on so tender a point as that of professional merit, I must suppose that the Eyes or Hand of that ingenious Woman have been injur'd by Time or chance, & no longer possess the Talent for which I gave her full Credit.—at all Events I held it my duty to Romney's Pupil (who generously declines all pecuniary reward for his drawing) to our Dear Painter Himself, to sacrifice my predilection for the female Engraver, & confide the execution of the plate from this very delicate & pathetic Drawing to your kind care & direction.—I will only add therefore it is my wish to have it executed with all possible perfection & I shall think the sum you mentioned 25 Guineas a very reasonable price—I should like to employ your Friend Cromak on the Shipwreck you mention, but as I learn by a letter from Saunders which arriv'd with your last, that Blake has just got in his own appartments the three designs of Romney; given to me by his Son, I should be sorry to risque wounding the Feelings of our quick-spirited Friend by sending the oil sketch from his possession to the House of any other Engraver[.][48]
Obviously both Flaxman and Hayley had learned to treat Blake with some delicacy. On August 2nd Flaxman replied tardily:
In his letter of November 7th 1804 Flaxman endeavored to soothe Hayley's ruffled feelings while still standing clear of the fray himself.
Flaxman wrote to Hayley on October 18th that
This quarrel seems to have followed the pattern of most of Blake's breaches with his friends. It probably began with the friend advising Blake that his temporal and financial interests would be served if he would conform a bit more, as in Flaxman's letter to Hayley above. This, of course, Blake deeply resented, and vented his anger in violent words and bitter epigrams. Usually he decided that his critics were both stupid and jealous. Of Flaxman he wrote:
andTo seek to turn a Madman to a Foe.
If you think as you speak, you are an Ass,
If you do not, you are but what you was.[57]
Partly because of this breach, Hayley and Flaxman turned to other engravers when they knew of work for which Blake might have been qualified. However, they liked to help him when they could. On March 11th 1808 Flaxman wrote to Hayley:
Flaxman did not stop working in Blake's interests, however. On August 19th 1814 he replied to John Bischoff's enquiry about having an engraving made from one of Flaxman's monuments for Dr. T.H. Whitaker's history of Leeds (published as Loides and Elmete in 1816):
Blake was a passionate intense little man, and, as this correspondence shows, it was not easy to be friends with him. In a moment of anger and bitterness Blake once wrote:
Thou hast giv'n me power to protect myself from my bitterest enemies.[62]
Notes
Cf. "A. S. Mathew, Patron of Flaxman and Blake", N&Q, CCIII (1958), 168-178. In reference to A. Cunningham's statement (The Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects [1830], III, 277) that the Rev. Mathew "aided Flaxman in befriending Blake", Maria Denman, Flaxman's sister-in-law, wrote: "Mr. Flaxman befriended Blake, as well as many others, but without being assisted by any one, besides recommending him to many of his friends." It seems equally clear that Cunningham was referring directly to the Poetical Sketches, and that Miss Denman was not. Unfortunately Miss Denman did not comment on Cunningham's even clearer statement (Symons, p. 393), that Flaxman "not only counselled their [the Sketches] publication, but joined with a gentleman of the name of Matthews in the expense, and presented the printed sheets to the artist to dispose of for his own advantage." (Miss Denman's statement was made in one of a series of notes on Cunningham's Lives, which she sent to the author, and which his son, Peter, published in The Builder, XXI [1863], 37-38, 60, as "New Materials for the Life of John Flaxman, R.A." An examination of a microfilm of these notes, which are now in the National Library of Scotland, reveals that Peter Cunningham was a very faithful transcriber, making only the most minor spelling and punctuation rectifications, and omitting only two exceedingly minor items.) J.T. Smith (Symons, p. 358) is probably the source of A. Cunningham's information.
Quoted from volume I (f 29) of the Flaxman Papers in the British Museum (39,780); hereafter these letters will be cited as F.P., with volume and page. There is no year on this letter, but someone (quite possibly John Flaxman) added the date in pencil, as he has to many letters, particularly those of Nancy. John and Nancy were married at the time of this letter; their marriage took place on June 3rd 1782, and since they were surely not separated within two weeks of marriage, the earliest (and most likely) date for this letter is 1783, which agrees with the pencil date. In this article, all superior letters, as in Mr. and 10th, have been lowered, but otherwise minutiae are reproduced as accurately as type will permit. Other abbreviations used in this article are:
- M.L.: Morgan Library (New York) MS quoted from a microfilm.
- H.C.: Hayley Correspondence in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England. These references are given with the volume number, but the manuscripts are not carefully enough organized to warrant page citations.
- F.L.: Flaxman Letters, a group of fifty-six letters in a green book in the Fitzwilliam Museum, cited by number.
- F.H.: Flaxman-Hayley letters, a group of letters loose in a folder in the Fitzwilliam Museum.
- B.M.: British Museum, followed by the MS reference number. I am grateful to Professor Arthur Friedman, and to my mother and wife, for indispensable help in verifying quotations from the MSS.
F.P., I, 157; this letter is dated in pencil June 20th 1783. It clearly answers the foregoing letter, because in it Nancy refers to their recent marriage, and says she is "charm'd with your noble account of Miss Younge" which John had sent two days before in the other letter.
M.L. This letter is dated simply April 26th, but it begins: "Sir I return many thanks for the present of your last publication & I have the pleasure to inform you (exclusive of the satisfaction I felt in perusing such genuine & new productions of genius) I have conversed with many persons of considerable abilities, who with one consent praise the Noble purity & Pathos of the Tragedies, & the novelty, Wit, & originality of the Comedies—" The work referred to is clearly Hayley's Plays of Three Acts (1784), which was so recent as to make any favorable criticism desirable. This letter is also quoted in The Letters of William Blake, ed. A.G.B. Russell (1906), pp. 51-52 and T. Wright, The Life of William Blake (1929), I, 12. (I shall cite published sources only when they seem to have direct reference to the MS.) The "Copies of Eleven Letters to Mr Hawkins from John Flaxman Kindly lent by John Heywood Hawkins—To Maria Denman April 18, 1843" (F.P., XI), dated 1820 to 1824 (except for one of November 14th 1803), have no reference to Blake.
Letter to Hayley of October 23rd 1804. D.V. Erdman (Blake Prophet Against Empire [1954], p. 99 ff) argues that about this time (1784) Blake put Flaxman into his satiric Island in the Moon as "Steelyard the Lawgiver". His most telling piece of evidence is that Steelyard is concerned in very minor parish business, and Flaxman "eked out his small income by serving as a parish rate collector." However, Flaxman's sister-in-law, Maria Denman, wrote firmly (P. Cunningham, p. 60): "Mr. Flaxman never was a collector of water-rates,—at least, I never heard it; but I do know that he scrupulously avoided all parish business throughout his life."
F.P., I, 61. There is no date on the MS, but another hand (John's?) has written in November 20th 1793; this date seems possible, for the death of John's mother (who died early in 1793) may be inferred from the letter.
D.V. Erdman ("Blake's Early Swedenborgianism: A Twentieth Century Legend", Comparative Literature, V [1953], 247-257) effectively demolished the evidence that Blake's parents were Swedenborgians. However, in demonstrating that Flaxman could not (because he was in Italy) have been Blake's direct contact with the 1789 meeting, Erdman overstated his case. Flaxman had been among the earliest of those interested in Swedenborg; on February 10th 1784, after a visit to Hayley at Eartham, Flaxman wrote to his host: "Pray when you have a favorable opportunity let me have Swedenborg, which reminds me of the Hedg-hogg who is very well & we have a tender regard for him on the givers account" (F. P., I, 33; cf. M. Bishop, Blake's Hayley [1951], p. 78). On January 26th [1790?] Flaxman enclosed a note to Mr. Sanders with his letter to his parents (F.P., I, 48) in which he said: "I am fully sensible of the present changes in Europe being necessary to the present Season of the Church, at the same time that they testify the truth of E:S:'s mission[.]" This radical enthusiasm is particularly interesting when coupled with the fact that in this letter Flaxman sent love to William Sharp, about whom he wrote to his father a few years later, on July 22nd 1794 (F.P., I, 63): "The newspapers have informed us that our friend Mr: Sharp the Engraver has been examined on suspicion [of treason], but from what I know of him I think his character so excellent that I cannot believe anything will be found against him." Sharp and Flaxman were among the early members of "The Theosophical Society, instituted for the Purpose of promoting the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem by translating, printing, and publishing the Theological Writings of the Honourable Emmanuel Swedenborg" (R. Hindmarsh, Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church in England, and America, and other Parts, ed. E. Madeley [1861], p. 23). It seems quite possible, as Erdman suggests, that Sharp was Blake's direct contact with the New Church group, though he himself was not there—or at least did not sign their unanimous resolutions (Minutes of the First Seven Sessions of the General Conference of the New Church, reprinted from the original editions, 1885).
A.M.W. Stirling, The Richmond Papers (1926), p. 8; cf. A.H. Palmer, The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer (1892), p. 24.
It seems likely that Flaxman bought the edition of Young's Night Thoughts for which Blake made engravings in 1796 and 1797. In Flaxman's account books ("Study account for 1796", F.P., V [H], 13 and 29), under date of July [24th?] 1796, is "Blake 5 5 -", and between May 6th and 13th 1797 is "Blakes book, binding", three shillings. The Night Thoughts were advertized to appear "Early in JUNE" 1797 (G. Keynes, Blake Studies [1949], p. 61), priced at five guineas (to subscribers) for the entire work. Normally, of course, the work was sold bound, but Flaxman may have taken an early copy (the latest date on the engravings, presumably postdated, is June 1, 1797) with some of the illustrations still in proof state. In these same accounts (I, 6) is a record of payment of two guineas to Blake in October 1797; the price for the first section of the Night Thoughts (the others were never issued) was two guineas. This last payment could have been for coloring the engravings, as was done in several copies; or, alternatively, one or more of these entries could refer to Blake's illustrations to Gray (cf. fn 53). In the Haverford College Library is a receipt, signed by Blake and dated Dec 14th 1799, for £9.0.8 from Flaxman for engraving the plates for Flaxman's Letter to the Committee for Raising the Naval Pillar.
F.L., no. 18; cf. E.J. Ellis, The Real Blake (1907), p. 187; M. Wilson, The Life of William Blake (1948), p. 131 and The Letters of William Blake (1956), p. 40 fn. According to J.T. Smith (Symons, pp. 364-365), "For his marginal illustrations of 'Young's Night Thoughts,' . . . [Blake] received so despicably low a price, that Flaxman . . . determined to serve him whenever an opportunity offered itself; and with his usual voice of sympathy, introduced him to his friend Hayley".
H.C., III; all the letters to Rose cited below are from this volume. On this same day Blake sent Hayley a proof of Demosthenes which "has been approved by Mr Flaxman".
In this letter he also thanks Rose for expediting the Demosthenes engraving, and explained that the delay with the medallion drawing was due to the inflammation of Howard's eyes. Hayley's language about his dying son was often stilted; but his emotion was clearly profound—in this letter he told Rose, "at times . . . I can only weep".
Hayley's better spirits were based on his hopes from Tom's imminent operation. Two days later, on March 12th, in his letter to Rose, Hayley predicted of Tom: "He will yet prove an Artist of astonishing powers—"; he also said that "Davies approved our Suggestion for his intended Book—". It is possible that this was Edward Davies, the Welsh antiquary and British Israelite.
F.L., no. 19; cf. Ellis, p. 187, Wilson, p 131, The Letters of William Blake (1956), p. 40 fn, and W. Hayley, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of William Hayley, Esq, ed. J. Johnson (1823), II, 495 (omitting the reference to Blake).
Blake to Hayley, April 1st 1800: "With all possible Expedition I send you a proof of my attempt to Express your & our Much Beloved's Countenance. Mr. Flaxman has seen it & approved of my now sending it to you for your remarks."
Quoted from a microfilm of the MS in the Library of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In a postscript Nancy asked "for a Pocket volume from the dear Boy's Library—as a Keep Sake—for Remembrancer I need none".
H.C. IX; the breaks in the text are caused by a hole made when the seal was removed. Cf. Wright, I, 98, and Wilson, pp. 132-133. This letter is important evidence that Blake's later stay at Felpham had not been planned before this time, and that the arrangement was more or less impromptu, based on mutual friendship.
Quoted from a photostat of the MS in the Allan R. Brown William Blake Collection in the library of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. This draft was written in great haste; the reading of many words, particularly those later deleted, is in doubt, and I have supplied all punctuation. In line 1 of this draft, "most" was changed to "my gentle"; above the first three words of line 3 is written, "Accept and fondly call keep"; in line 5, "To give it" has been altered to "Rich in"; in line 7 "The Book" was changed to "For it"; and in the last line "So" was substituted for "Thus". The final version of the poem, with the date, was given by J.T. Smith (cf. Symons, p. 367).
F.L., no. 21; cf. Ellis, pp. 187-188, Wilson, pp. 133-134; Wright, I, 100, and M.R. Lowery, Windows of the Morning (1940), p. 48. The first "not" is inserted over a caret. This letter suggests that Blake's engraving work was not the primary purpose of his move to Felpham, at least as expressed to Flaxman. This letter is in curious contrast to that of April 26th 1784.
Quoted from another group of Flaxman-Hayley letters, in an orange folder, in the Fitzwilliam Museum; the letters between brackets were lost when the page was torn. After the signature of his letter, Flaxman added: "I shall beg your permission to address the other Side to Mr: Blake". Cf. Wright, II, 184 (with the letter to Hayley); A.N.L. Munby, "Letters of British Artists of the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries — Part I", The Connoisseur, CXVIII (1946), 26-28 (with a facsimile); and The Letters of William Blake, ed. G. Keynes, who says (p. 218) that it was also printed in the catalogues of Sotheby (November 8th 1927) and Maggs (no. 544, June 1930). Blake was evidently aware of Flaxman's attitude as expressed in this and the August 19th 1800 letter, for on November 22nd 1802 he asked, why "Must Flaxman look upon me as wild"?
H.C., IX; part of the letter is quoted in Wilson, p. 139; and the poem appears as no. 47 in "A Collection of brief devotional Poems composed on the Pillow before the Dawn of Day 1801" in the Cornell University Library. The Blake letter on the next page has been torn off, and is now in Colorado Springs. In a postscript to Blake's letter, Hayley wrote: "Weller says it would soothe & comfort the good sister of the upright Mr. D. to see a little sketch from yr Hand." Keynes (The Letters of William Blake, p. 67 fn) surmises that this may be a "Mr Dally"; but in his letter to Hayley of October 7th 1801 Flaxman suggests a design for his monument to "Mr Dear".
"Mr Thomas" was almost certainly the "Rev. Joseph Thomas, Rector of Epsom" who subscribed to the edition of Blair's Grave with Blake's designs published in 1808; cf. p. 184. According to A. Gilchrist (Life of William Blake, ed. R. Todd [1942], p. 104), "Flaxman recommended more than one friend to take copies [of the Songs of Innocence and Experience], a Mr Thomas among them, who, wishing to give the artist a present, made the price ten guineas [instead of about a guinea]. For such a sum Blake could hardly do enough, finishing the plates like miniatures." Thomas also owned an extra-illustrated edition of Shakespeare for which Blake made six illustrations (now in the British Museum), but there is no record that he possessed anything else by Blake. The artist completed two sets of Comus watercolors, but it is not known which, if either, belonged to Thomas.
H.C., IX; cf. Wilson, p. 367. In this letter Hayley says further: "if my affection for his [Cowper's] Memory does not deceive me, his Letters are the most admirable & delightful Letters that were ever imparted to the World.—" This may be compared with Blake's letter of September 11th 1801, in which he says Hayley's biography "will contain Letters of Cowper to his friends, Perhaps, or rather Certainly, the very best letters that ever were published."
H.C., IX. Hayley had also sent a copy to Lady Hesketh, and another to Flaxman, which he feared had gone astray; both of them were presumably sketched by Blake.
Quoted from a microfilm of the MS in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library; cf. the catalogue no. 24 (March 1929) of Elkin Mathews Ltd, 33 Conduit Street, London W.1.
Cf. "William Blake as a Private Publisher", Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 61 (1957), 539-560.
F.H. The written year is 1801, but the postmark is clearly June 28, 1802. Flaxman's praise was badly needed about this time; on July 15th Hayley replied to Lady Hesketh's criticisms ("Blake, Hayley, and Lady Hesketh", R.E.S., N.S., VII [1956], 277-278): "I allow [your critical friend] . . . to be as severe as He pleases, as we happily counteract his Censure with the applause of a more competent, but also a nameless Judge, who has said, I think with more Truth, that there is great spirit & sentiment in the engravings of my Friend.—" On January 30th 1803 Blake sent "5 Copies of N4 of the Ballads for Mrs Flaxman."
Quoted from the MS in the Chicago Art Institute; there is no year in the written date, but the letter refers to "our late Excursion to France", which took place during the brief peace, in September 1802.
B.M., 37,538, f 6. The beginning of this
sentence is "—I am sorry for Mr: Spilsbury's illness I hope he is
better".
On June 28th 1802 Charlotte Collins in Midhurst had written to Hayley
about her success in selling the Ballads, and reported that one of her
customers "by the name of Spilsbury" wanted Blake to
engrave
some animals he had drawn (cf. "William Blake as a Private Publisher", p.
544). Hayley evidently later came to know this Spilsbury; at least "E.G."
refers to him familiarly in a rhymed epistle to Hayley on November 6th
1802, describing a visit to Midhurst:
Here our well-belov'd artist (and oh may queen Fame
Trumpet forth in our streets Mr Spilsbury's name)
Receiv'd me and welcom'd me home: where I sat
And devour'd a short meal and enjoy'd a short chat[.]
The letter concludes with a
Postscript
You'll let the Meyers and Mr Blake
My kind remembrances partake[.]
(Quoted from a microfilm of the MS in Harvard University Library.) This
Spilsbury does not seem to be the professional artist whom Blake (and
presumably Hayley) knew—cf. Blake's letter of September 28th
1804.
M.L. Blake made an engraving from a medallion after Romney for Hayley's biography of Cowper, but the present medallion seems to be connected with the biography of Romney.
M.L.; cf. The Letters of William Blake (1906), pp. 133-137. Blake seems to have gone to Felpham several days before his trial with this letter. Parker's engraving is dated Jan 2, 1804, two others by Bond are dated Dec 1, 1807, and the fourth plate illustrating Flaxman's article is by Blake, dated Nov 11, 1818. Rees's Cyclopedia was finally published in 1820.
F.P., II, 41. On February 23rd Blake sent "the Academical Correspondence of Mr Hoare" to Hayley.
B.M., 36,540, f 50. Blake made a number of engravings after designs by Flaxman, notably for Flaxman's Letter to the Committee for Raising the Naval Pillar, 1799, his Illiad of Homer, 1805, and Compositions from the Works Days and Theogony of Hesiod, 1817. Gilchrist (p. 96) asserted that the original engravings to Homer were lost en route to England, and that Blake provided substitutes (with the name of the original engraver, Piroli), but he gave no evidence; Wilson (p. 77) therefore doubted the whole episode, and Todd (Gilchrist, p. 375) reaffirmed Gilchrist's account, but still without producing evidence. It may therefore be useful to record Hayley's statement (B.M., 30,803 B, f 110, n.d., probably early 1803) that Flaxman's Odyssy is rare: "I believe there are hardly 3 copies of it in England for the main body of these delightful Engravings was seized by the French— I am not sure that Flaxman himself has a copy". The existing copies were those that Flaxman had sent individually to friends from Italy. On the other hand, Flaxman's account books (F.P., V [F]) record payments to Piroli but none to Blake. The Bodleian has the plates to Flaxman's Homer. It has been noticed that Blake made a much more conscientious attempt to reproduce the living lines of Flaxman's drawings than the other engravers who copied the sculptor's sketches.
Quoted from the MS in the Library of Congress. Hayley wrote (The Life of George Romney, Esq. [1809], p. 195): "The praise, which my friend [Romney] bestowed on that interesting print, engraved by Caroline Watson, induced me to engage this very delicate artist in decorating the present volume."
F.L., no. 22; cf. Ellis, p. 251, and Wilson, p. 372. Flaxman concludes his letter by recommending "Cromak" who had made the best engravings ever done after Stothard, for the engravings of the Romney biography. "Mr. Cromak is a man of independent Spirit & is very handsomely employed as he well deserves—".
Quoted from the MS in the possession of Sir Geoffrey Keynes. Hayley concludes by asking Flaxman to pick out pictures by Romney "for your favourite Engraver" Cromek to engrave for the biography. The Blake letter quoted (very imprecisely) at the beginning of this letter is dated May 28th 1804. The Flaxman letters of this time are full of references to Cromek (see especially Mary Ann Flaxman's letters of 1804 and 1805, F.P., IV).
F.L., no. 23; cf. Ellis, p. 260, Wilson, p. 190, and Wright, I, 165. In this letter Flaxman reiterates that Cromek "is abundantly employed & sought after".
M.L. On October 1st (M.L.) Flaxman told Hayley that Cromek was too busy to undertake the Romney engravings.
Tatham, quoted in The Letters of William Blake (1906), p. 40; cf. also J.T. Smith (Symons, pp. 373, 388); S. Palmer (in Gilchrist, p. 303—and pp. 1, 101); Literary Gazette (August 18th 1827, p. 540).
F.L., no. 26; cf. Ellis, p. 267; Lowery, pp. 47-49; Wilson, p. 194; and Wright, II, 11. In 1805 Hayley's Ballads, with Blake's engravings, had been published by more conventional methods by Phillips, and Hayley had again resigned his share in the profits to Blake.
F.P., I, 263; the "[care]" was covered by the seal. "Mr T" is almost certainly the "Rev. Joseph Thomas, Rector of Epsom"; cf. fn 32. M.L. Lowery ("Blake and the Flaxmans", The Age of Johnson [1949], p. 285) seems to suggest that the Blake illustrations were made at the time of the Flaxmans' marriage; however, the edition of Gray inset into the pages is dated 1790, and the Flaxmans were married in 1782. Blake wrote a poem "To Mrs Anna Flaxman" to accompany the illustrations. The most likely and commonly accepted date for the illustrations is 1800, when Blake was particularly grateful to Flaxman for his introduction to Hayley. I have found no further reference to these illustrations to Gray (but cf. fn 17). Fuseli exhibited "The Bard", "The Descent of Odin" and "The Fatal Sisters" (all of which Blake treated) at the Royal Academy in 1800. Nancy evidently collected poetry; on April 10th 1813 (B.M., 30,805, f 44) she wrote: "My Poetic Chest goes on charmingly . . . Especially a Poem accompanied by half a Dozen charming drawings—"; and in her collection was Blake's "dedication to the Grave" "To the Queen" (F.P., IX, 89). It is curious that the only one of Blake's works in "Illuminated Printing" which the Flaxmans are known to have owned was the Songs of Innocence and Experience (G. Keynes and E. Wolf 2nd, William Blake's Illuminated Books [1953], p. 261).
M.L.; cf. The Letters of William Blake (1906), pp. 185-186, and Wright, II, 12. Only the last two drawings were engraved.
M.L.; cf. The Letters of William Blake (1906), pp. 186-187. Flaxman's resolution not to interfere seems to have been wavering, for in this letter he says "I called on Miss Watson" and they discussed the problems involved in engraving after Romney.
F.P., I, 94-95; cf. Bishop, p. 306. In his letter of October 18th 1805 Flaxman had written, "we have read your Hero and Leander and are much pleased with the beauty and elegance of the Translation". I know nothing further of this work.
F.L., no. 34; cf. Wright, II, 28; Wilson, pp. 207, 375; and M.R. Lowery, Windows of the Morning (1940), p. 50.
Quoted from a microfilm of the MS in the Library of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania; cf. J. Sandell, Memoranda of Art and Artists (1871), p. 31. Flaxman bought one, and perhaps two, copies of Blake's engravings to Job; there is evidence that Blake received three guineas for "one copy plain" about October 1823 (E. Wolf 2nd, "The Blake-Linnell Accounts in the Library of Yale University", The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, XXXVII [1943], 2), and that Flaxman paid for "Blake's Job £3.3" in September 1825 (F.P., XII, 142). According to Tatham, "Mr Flaxman introduced Blake to Mr Wedgwood" and procured him engraving work not long before this time (Keynes, Blake Studies, p. 70, citing a note on a proof plate of the Wedgwood catalogue now in the possession of Mrs. Robert D. Chellis, 9 Pembroke Rd, Weston 93, Mass).
F.P., I, 364; there are numerous references to the Tulks in Flaxman's letters about this time which are preserved in the Fitzwilliam (along with a portrait apiece by Flaxman of Mrs. Tulk and her two children, dated 1816) and in F.P., especially vol. II. The Tulks owned copies of Blake's Poetical Sketches, Songs of Innocence and Experience and "No Natural Religion" (Keynes and Wolf, pp. 6, 59).
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