Relief etching on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-blake-39" aria-label="More by William Blake" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Blake</a>
Songs Innocence and Experience Spring
Presented by Mrs John Richmond 1922
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: mammals
baby
Blake, William, ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’, 1789
children
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
family
innocence
inscriptions
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
mother and child
people
poem
printed text
seasons
sheep
sitting
society
spring
symbols and personifications
woman
<p>These are pages from Blake's illustrated book Songs of Innocence. The artist composed the verse and designed and printed the pages. He developed a technique for integrating both text and image onto a single etching plate for printing. This reflects the intimate relationship he saw between image and text, each being a comment upon the other. The influence of Blake's work as a writer and illustrator persisted, and he became an important model for modern artists such as Paul Nash.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print relief etching
18 November 2002 – 23 March 2003
2003-03-23
18 November 2002 – 23 March 2003
2003-03-23
2002-11-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-11-18
Paul Nash: The Englishness of Surrealism
Collection based display
13 May 2013 – 6 April 2015
2015-04-06
13 May 2013 – 6 April 2015
2015-04-06
2013-05-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-05-13
William Blake
Collection based display
‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’: ‘Spring’
image: 115 × 79 mm
Presented by Mrs John Richmond 1922
<p>These are pages from Blake's illustrated book Songs of Innocence. The artist composed the verse and designed and printed the pages. He developed a technique for integrating both text and image onto a single <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etching</span></a> plate for printing. This reflects the intimate relationship he saw between image and text, each being a comment upon the other. The influence of Blake's work as a writer and illustrator persisted, and he became an important model for modern artists such as Paul Nash. </p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-songs-of-innocence-and-of-experience-spring-a00037" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00037</span></a> [from] <b><i>Songs of Innocence and of Experience</i>: Miscellaneous Pages</b> 1789 and 1794/1831 or later [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-songs-of-innocence-and-of-experience-infant-sorrow-a00035" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00035</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-songs-of-innocence-title-page-a00039" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00039</span></a>; complete]
<br/>
<br/><span>A00035</span>- A00039/ -</p>
<p>5 relief etchings, printed in grey
<br/>Presented by Mrs John Richmond 1922
<br/>PROVENANCE ?Mrs Blake; Frederick Tatham; his brother-in-law George Richmond, sold Christie's 29 April 1897 (in 147 with 22 other works; see no.2) £2.10.0 bt Dr Richard Sisley; his daughter Mrs John Richmond
<br/>LITERATURE Keynes <i>Bibliography</i> 1921, pp.114–28; Erdman <i>Illuminated Blake</i> 1974, pp.41–97, book repr.; Bentley <i>Blake Books</i> 1977, pp.364–432 no.139 (Tate works pp.371, 430); Bindman <i>Graphic Works</i>
1978, pp.468–9 nos.40–70, 474 nos.214–69, two books repr.
<br/></p>
<p>Blake published his <i>Songs of Innocence</i> on their own in 1789. In his prospectus <i>To the Public</i> of 10 October 1793 he advertised both <i>Songs of Innocence</i> and, as a separate item, <i>Songs of Experience</i>; however the separate title-page for <i>Songs of Experience</i> is dated 1794 (Keynes <i>Writings</i> 1957, p.208). Most though not all of the existing copies of <i>Songs of Experience</i> are bound up with <i>Songs of Innocence</i> with a joint titlepage reading <i>Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul</i>; this is undated. In some of these joint copies certain poems originally included in <i>Songs of Innocence</i> are moved to <i>Songs of Experience</i>. Even within the two sets, the order of the poems was frequently altered.
<br/>
<br/><span>A00037</span> is watermarked ‘1831’ and, as all these pages show the same palish grey inking and type of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a>, all were presumably printed after Blake's death in 1827, probably by Frederick Tatham from the plates that Mrs Blake would have brought with her when she went to stay with him in September 1828, though not necessarily before her death on 18 October 1831.
<br/>
<br/>These works were formerly inventoried as nos.3694 vii, viii, vi, v, va and iv respectively.
<br/>
<br/><span>A00037</span> <b><i>Songs of Innocence:</i> ‘Spring’</b> 1789/1831 or later
<br/>
<br/>A 00037/-
<br/>Relief etching, printed in grey 115×79 (4 1/8×3 7/8) on paper 248×200 (9 9/16×7 7/8) Watermarked ‘[JWHATMAN]/1831’
<br/>
<br/>This is the first of two pages devoted to this poem and normally occur as page 25 in copies of <i>Songs of Innocence</i> and as page 22 in the combined <i>Songs of Innocence and of Experience</i>. For the rest of the poem see Erdman 1974, Bindman 1978 or Keynes <i>Writings</i> 1957, p.123.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin, <i>William Blake 1757-1827</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, V, London 1990
<br/>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults animals: mammals baby Blake, William, ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’, 1789 children emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas family innocence inscriptions literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) mother and child people poem printed text seasons sheep sitting society spring symbols and personifications woman