Ink and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Art Fund
Collection
<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>
Satan in his Original Glory Thou wast Perfect till Iniquity was Found in Thee
Presented by the executors of W. Graham Robertson through the Art Fund 1949
actions: postures and motions
adults
angel
animals: features
arm / arms raised
astronomy
beauty
Bible: Old Testament
cherub
cosmos
crown
emotions, concepts and ideas
Ezekiel, chapter 28
fine arts and music
flying
instrument, trumpet
Judaeo-Christian imagery
male
man
nudes
objects
orb
people
planet
religion and belief
religious and ceremonial
Satan
sceptre
star
universal concepts
universal religious imagery
wing
<p>This watercolour shows Satan as he once was, a perfect part of God’s creation, before his fall from grace. His orb and sceptre symbolise his role as Prince of this World. It is also an extreme example of the damaging effects of over-exposure to light. The sky was originally an intense blue, now only visible at the lower right edge. The only colours which have survived unaltered are the vermilion red Blake used for the flesh, and red ochre in Satan’s wings. The paper has yellowed considerably. There is no evidence left of any yellow gamboge or pinkish red lakes.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper unique ink watercolour
24 March 2003 – 17 November 2003
2003-11-17
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-24
Blake and Illustration
Collection based display
24 November 2003 – 22 November 2004
2004-11-22
10 November 2003
2003-11-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-11-24
William Blake the Painter at Work
Collection based display
15 February 2006 – 1 May 2006
2006-05-01
15 February 2006 – 1 May 2006
2006-05-01
2006-02-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-02-15
Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination
Exhibition
7 October 2008 – 4 January 2009
2009-01-04
7 October 2008 – 4 January 2009
2009-01-04
2008-10-07
New Art Gallery Walsall (Walsall, UK)
http://www.artatwalsall.org.uk/
2008-10-07
William Blake: Angels and Imagination
Loan-out
1 November 2011 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
1 November 2011 – 19 February 2012
2012-02-19
2011-11-01
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
3 July 2012 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
2012-07-03
Fundació “la Caixa” (Madrid, Spain)
2011-11-01
Blake Exhibition
Loan-out
11 September 2019 – 2 February 2020
2020-02-02
11 September 2019 – 2 February 2020
2020-02-02
2019-09-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2019-09-11
William Blake: The Artist
Exhibition
15 November 2021 – 10 April 2022
2022-04-10
15 November 2021 – 10 April 2022
2022-04-10
2021-11-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2021-11-15
Poetical Bodies: Works on Paper by Blake and his Contemporaries
Collection based display
29 October 2024 – 30 September 2025
2025-09-30
30 October 2024 – 2 February 2025
2025-02-02
2024-10-30
Reggia di Venaria Reale (Turin, Italy)
1 September 2025 – 31 January 2026
2026-01-31
2025-09-01
Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest, Hungary)
1 March 2026 – 31 August 2026
2026-08-31
2026-03-01
External
2024-10-29
William Blake and the Age of Romantic Fantasy: British Art & Imagination
Loan-out
Satan in his Original Glory: ‘Thou wast Perfect till Iniquity was Found in Thee’
support: 429 × 339 mm
Presented by the executors of W. Graham Robertson through the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1949
<p>This <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> shows Satan as he once was, a perfect part of God’s creation, before his fall from grace. His orb and sceptre symbolise his role as Prince of this World. It is also an extreme example of the damaging effects of over-exposure to light. The sky was originally an intense blue, now only visible at the lower right edge. The only colours which have survived unaltered are  the vermilion red Blake used for the flesh, and red ochre in Satan’s wings. 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/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> has yellowed considerably. There is no evidence left of any yellow gamboge or pinkish red lakes. 
</p>
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2004-09-09T00:00:00
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-satan-in-his-original-glory-thou-wast-perfect-till-iniquity-was-found-in-thee-n05892" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05892</span></a> <b>Satan in his Original Glory: ‘Thou wast Perfect till Iniquity was Found in Thee’</b> <i>c.</i>1805
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<br/>N 05892 / B 469
<br/>Pen and watercolour 429×339 (16 1/2×13 3/8)</p>
<p>Signed ‘WB inv’ in monogram b.r. and inscr. on old mount, now replaced, with a damaged copperplate inscription in pencil with the title ‘Thou wast perfect...’ above, the reference Ezekiel ch.28th v.13th &amp; ... &amp;c' b.r. and with part of the text from Ezekiel, xxviii, below Presented by the Executors of W. Graham Robertson through the National Art-Collections Fund 1949
<br/>PROVENANCE Thomas Butts; Thomas Butts jun., offered Foster's 29 June 1853 (103) 11/- bt in Thomas, and Foster's 8 March 1854 (in 14 with nos.47 and 48) 10/- bt in; Capt. F.J. Butts; his widow, sold April 1906 through Carfax to W. Graham Robertson, offered Christie's 22 July 1949 (23, repr.) £1,260 bt his executors
<br/>EXHIBITED BFAC 1876 (170); Carfax 1906 (36); Cambridge 1910; Tate Gallery (16) and Manchester (14) 1913–14; BFAC 1927 (10, pl.10); Paris, Antwerp, Zurich and Tate Gallery 1947 (11); Bournemouth, Southampton and Brighton 1949 (9); <i>The Devil in Figurative Art</i> Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, June–September 1952; <i>English Drawings and Water Colours from British Collections</i>, National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Metropolitan Museum, New York, February–June 1962 (2); Whitworth 1969 (32, repr.)
<br/>LITERATURE Rossetti 1863, p.330 no.181 and p.255 list 3 no.13, and 1880, p.243 no.205 and p.275 list 3 no.13; Preston 1952, pp.60–1 no.13, pl.13; Digby 1957, pp.15–17, pl.23; Keynes <i>Bible</i> 1957, p.26 no.82 repr.; Beer 1968, pp.195, 257, pl.44; Raine 1968, 11, p.222, pl.179; Bindman 1977, p.142; Butlin 1981, p.350 no.469, pl.554; Warner 1984, pp.5, 197 n.15, pl.3
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<p>This is an illustration to Ezekiel, xxviii, 14–15. The text refers to ‘The Prince of Tyre’ but has been read as a general reference to Satan. Blake makes this equation in <i>Millon</i>, dated 1804 but written and <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>etched</span></a> <i>c.</i>1803–10, echoing the Prince of Tyre's ‘I am God’ (plate 9, line 25; Keynes <i>Writings</i> 1957, p.490). Blake shows Satan in his original beauty as the covering Cherub of the Biblical text and personifies the precious stones and musical instruments with which he was endowed in the Garden of Eden, but Blake adds the orb and sceptre, symbols of Satan's role as Prince of this World. Janet Warner notes the probable derivation of the figure of Satan from the Apollo in Vincenzo Cartari's emblem book <i>Imagini delli Dei gl' Antichi</i> of 1556; the linking of Satan and Apollo is perhaps a meaningful one.
<br/>
<br/>Rossetti seems to have been confused by the two titles under which this <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> has been known. His first reference, in both 1863 and 1880, is under the title ‘Thou wast perfect till iniquity was found in thee - Ezek. xxviii. 15’, reflecting the inscription that he would have seen on the matt when he examined Captain Butts's collection. The second reference, in his List 3, ‘Works of Unascertained Method’, is by the title under which the watercolour was offered at Foster's in 1853, ‘Satan in his Former Glory’, as belonging to ‘Mr. Thomas from Mr. Butts’.
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<br/>The blue washes that have faded from much of the background can be seen at the bottom where they were covered by the old mount.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin, <i>William Blake 1757-1827</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, V, London 1990
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults angel animals: features arm / arms raised astronomy beauty Bible: Old Testament cherub cosmos crown emotions, concepts and ideas Ezekiel, chapter 28 fine arts and music flying instrument, trumpet Judaeo-Christian imagery male man nudes objects orb people planet religion and belief religious and ceremonial Satan sceptre star universal concepts universal religious imagery wing