Line engraving on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Art Fund
Collection
Illustrations to ‘The Book of Job’
<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>
Job Rebuked by his Friends
Purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the National Gallery and donations from the Art Fund, Lord Duveen and others, and presented through the Art Fund 1919
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
attacking
beard
Bible: Old Testament
body
caption
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
group
groups
inscriptions
Job
Job’s wife
Job, chapter 12
Job, chapter 13
Job, chapter 14
Job, chapter 19
kneeling
landscape
man
mountain
people
pointing
printed text
quotation
religion and belief
shame
suffering
symbols and personifications
weeping
woman
<p>This is an illustration to chapter 12, verse 4 of the Book of Job: 'I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the Just upright man is laughed to scorn.' Job endures the mocking of his friends and the rebuke of his wife. Their attitude towards him reflects their impatience with Job's protestations of his innocence, despite the fact that God's punishment of him is an indication of his transgression. The other inscriptions in the margins are statements Job made to his God and which are found elsewhere in the Book of Job.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 1993</em></p>
paper unique line engraving
1 November 2011 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
3 July 2012 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
2012-07-03
Fundació “la Caixa” (Madrid, Spain)
2011-11-01
Blake Exhibition
Loan-out
Job Rebuked by his Friends
image: 198 × 152 mm
Purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the National Gallery and donations from the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a>, Lord Duveen and others, and presented through the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1919
<p>This is an illustration to chapter 12, verse 4 of the Book of Job: 'I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the Just upright man is laughed to scorn.' Job endures the mocking of his friends and the rebuke of his wife. Their attitude towards him reflects their impatience with Job's protestations of his innocence, despite the fact that God's punishment of him is an indication of his transgression. The other inscriptions in the margins are statements Job made to his God and which are found elsewhere in the Book of Job.</p>
Display caption
1993-08-09T00:00:00
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-job-rebuked-by-his-friends-a00021" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00021</span></a> [from] <b>Illustrations to <i>The Book of Job</i>: Engravings</b>
1823–6/1874 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-job-and-his-family-a00012" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00012</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-job-and-his-family-restored-to-prosperity-a00032" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00032</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-title-page-of-the-book-of-job-t05845" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T05845</span></a>; complete]
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<p>A 00012–32 /-
<br/>Twenty-two line engravings on india paper laid on drawing paper approx. 510×345 (20×13 1/2)
<br/>Purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the National Gallery and donations from the National Art-Collections Fund, Lord Duveen and others, and presented through the National Art-Collections Fund 1919
<br/>PROVENANCE John Linnell; his heirs, sold Christie's 15 March 1918 (183) £33.12.0.bt Martin for the donors
<br/>LITERATURE Gilchrist 1863, 1, pp.283–4, 297; Wicksteed 1910 and 1924; Russell <i>Engravings</i> 1912, 102–15 no.33: Keynes <i>Bibliography</i> 1921, pp.179–82 no.55: Binyon and Keynes 1935, series repr. vol.VI; Keynes <i>Engravings</i> 1950, pp.16–17, series repr.pls. 42–68; Keynes <i>Writings</i> 1957, pp.869–70, 872, 874, 876–7; S. Foster Damon, <i>Blake's Job</i> 1966, series repr.; Bentley <i>Blake Records</i> 1969, pp.234 n.i, 277–397 <i>passim</i>, 586–605; Andrew Wright <i>Blake's Job: A Commentary</i> 1972, series repr.; Lindberg 1973, pp.24–32, 40–52, 167–76, 183–352 nos.0A–21A, series repr.; Bentley <i>Blake Books</i> 1977, pp.517–24 no.421; Bindman <i>Graphic Works</i> 1978, pp.486–7 nos.625–46, series repr.; Mitchell 1978, pp.41–2; Essick <i>Printmaker</i> 1981, pp.92, 105, 220, 234–50, 252; Robert N. Essick, ‘Blake's Engravings to the Book of Job; An Essay on their Graphic Form with a Catalogue of their States and Printings’ in David Bindman, ed., <i>William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job</i> 1987, pp.35–101.
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<p>John Linnell, who had commissioned the second set 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/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> illustrations to the Book of Job in 1821, entered into a formal agreement with Blake for the <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/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engravings</span></a> on 25 March 1823: Linnell was to pay Blake £5 a plate or £100 for the set, and in addition he agreed to give Blake an extra £100 if the profits of the work made this possible. The agreement was for twenty engravings though in the event twenty-one subjects were engraved together with a title-page. On 5 March 1825 Linnell went with Blake to the printer J. Lahee to see proofs being taken. The series is dated 8 March 1825 but the final engravings do not seem actually to have been ready until the end of March 1826 (Bentley 1969, pp.277, 300 and 327). At this time 215 sets of engravings marked ‘<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/proof" title="Glossary definition for 'Proof'"><span>Proof</span></a>’ were issued; these should be distinguished from the working proofs, on some of which Blake tried out designs for the borders. The word ‘Proof’ was then deleted (traces can be seen on <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-satan-before-the-throne-of-god-a00013" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00013</span></a>) and a further 100 sets were printed on <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> <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>. According to John Linnell Jr, writing to Bernard Quaritch on 6 May 1892, Linnell, after the 1826 printing, ‘put the plates away, &amp; they were never again used after this time until the year 1874. At this time my father...had one hundred copies printed from the plates upon India paper’. Although the distinctive cover is now missing, it seems that the Tate Gallery's copies of the engravings are from this 1874 printing. The original plates were given by Herbert Linnell to the British Museum <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/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>Print</span></a> Room on 28 May 1919.
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<br/>Each engraving is inscribed ‘W Blake inv. &amp; sculp’. In addition each is inscribed in the lower margin with variations of the text ‘London. Published as the Act directs March 8:1825 by William Blake No3 Fountain Court Strand’; the first actual design (<span>A00012</span>) is mistakenly dated with the year 1828 and ‘Will<sup>m</sup>’ is sometimes substituted for ‘William’, while the punctuation is also slightly varied.
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<br/>More importantly, the borders of each design bear a number of inscriptions taken from the Bible or with variations of biblical texts. These add a verbal gloss to the designs which in themselves embody Blake's critical reaction to the original story as set out in the Old Testament. The fullest analysis is in Lindberg though Wicksteed, Damon 1966 and Wright also contain full commentaries. Blake's interpretation of his text is only given in summary form in this catalogue.
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<br/>These engravings were formerly inventoried as nos.3372 i–xxii. The new inventory numbers omit the title-page.
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<br/><span>A00021</span> <b>Job Rebuked by his Friends</b>
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<br/>Line engraving 198×152 (7 3/4×6); platemark 219×171 (8 5/8×6 3/4)
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<p>Inscribed ‘WBlake invenit &amp; sculp’ b.r., ‘London Published as the Act directs March 8: 1825. by William Blake N3 Fountain Court Strand’ below, ‘10’ t.r., and with texts given below
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<p>Illustration no.10: Job, xii, 4, ‘The Just Upright Man is laughed to scorn’, Blake's main title, though the design sums up the whole encounter of Job and his friends (Job, iv-xxxi), whose rebuke is echoed more gently by his wife. The other inscriptions are taken from Job's statements to his God: ‘Man that is born of a Woman is of few days &amp; full of trouble/he cometh up like a flower &amp; is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow/&amp; continueth not And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one/&amp; bringest me into judgment with the’ (Job, xiv, 1–3); ‘But he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tried me I shall come forth like gold’ (Job, xxiii, 10); ‘Have pity upon me! Have pity upon me! O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me’ (Job, xix, 21); and ‘Though he slay me yet will I trust in him’ (Job, xiii, 15).
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<br/>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> of the main design is taken, in reverse, from an earlier engraving by Blake. This is known in two states, the later of which is dated 1793 though it was probably executed considerably later (for the preliminary drawings for this engraving, and the whole problem of the dating of that group of works, see <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-job-his-wife-and-his-friends-the-complaint-of-job-verso-jobs-wife-and-eight-other-n05200" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05200</span></a>; the various works are repr. together in Essick <i>Separate Plates</i> 1983, figs.7–11). Job's wife is however moved back to the other side of Job as in no.6 and the friends, or comforters, no longer sit passively but point accusingly at Job, each with both arms outstretched, a repeated gesture probably taken from Fuseli's ‘Three Witches’ from <i>Macbeth</i> (versions of 1783 onwards are repr. Blunt 1959, pl.51 b, Tomory <i>Fuseli</i> 1972, pl.72, and Schiff <i>Füssli</i> 1973, 11, pp.176 nos.733, 734 and 735). Lindberg finds a common source in Agostino Veneziano's engraving after Giulio Romano's ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’, 1531 (repr. pl.109). Blake used a similar motif for the accusers of Socrates on plate 93 of <i>Jerusalem</i>
(repr. Blunt 1959, pl.51c; Lindberg 1973, pl.111).
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<br/>Lindberg draws attention to the fact that this scene was traditionally seen as a prefiguration of the mocking of Christ.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin, <i>William Blake 1757-1827</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, V, London 1990
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Catalogue entry
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults attacking beard Bible: Old Testament body caption emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas group groups inscriptions Job Job, chapter 12 Job, chapter 13 Job, chapter 14 Job, chapter 19 Job’s wife kneeling landscape man mountain people pointing printed text quotation religion and belief shame suffering symbols and personifications weeping woman