Ink and tempera on mahogany
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 Smiting Job with Sore Boils
Presented by Miss Mary H. Dodge through the Art Fund 1918
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
architecture
arm / arms raised
Bible: Old Testament
boils
cloud
despair
diseases and conditions
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
Job
Job’s wife
Job, chapter 2
Judaeo-Christian imagery
male
man
nudes
pain
people
religion and belief
salvation
Satan
sea
seascapes and coasts
sunset
times of the day
townscape, distant
townscapes / man-made features
universal religious imagery
weather
weeping
woman
<p>In this image, Blake represents a scene from the biblical ‘Book of Job’. Throughout the text, the presence of evil and suffering in a world created by a just, all-knowing God is questioned. God lets Satan test the devout Job’s faith by inflicting various tortures on him. This vibrant watercolour shows one of these tortures. Blake depicts Satan in the centre, arms and wings outstretched, as he blasts Job with boils. This watercolour is a development of plate 6 of Blake’s designs to the Book of Job, published in 1826.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
painting ink tempera mahogany
15 October 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
15 October 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
2001-10-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-15
William Blake and His Followers
Collection based display
8 July 2002 – 1 October 2003
2003-10-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-08
William Blake Body and Soul
Collection based display
8 July 2002 – 16 March 2003
2003-03-16
8 July 2002 – 16 March 2003
2003-03-16
2002-07-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-08
Body and Soul
Collection based display
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
18 August 2009 – 14 November 2010
2010-11-14
18 August 2009 – 14 November 2010
2010-11-14
2009-08-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-18
Sublime
Collection based display
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)
2011-11-01
Blake Exhibition
Loan-out
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
1 September 2016 – 30 April 2017
2017-04-30
1 September 2016 – 30 April 2017
2017-04-30
2016-09-01
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2016-09-01
Tracey Emin & William Blake in Focus
Collection based display
22 May 2017 – 28 July 2019
2019-07-28
22 May 2017 – 28 July 2019
2019-07-28
2017-05-22
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2017-05-22
William Blake in Focus
Collection based display
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
17 April 2023 – 12 May 2024
2024-05-12
17 April 2023 – 12 May 2024
2024-05-12
2023-04-17
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-04-17
Blake
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 Smiting Job with Sore Boils
support: 326 × 432 mm
frame: 380 × 483 × 37 mm
Presented by Miss Mary H. Dodge through the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1918
<div class="text">
<p>In this image, Blake represents a scene from the biblical ‘Book of Job’. Throughout the text, the presence of evil and suffering in a world created by a just, all-knowing God is questioned. God lets Satan test the devout Job’s faith by inflicting various tortures on him. This vibrant watercolour shows one of these tortures. Blake depicts Satan in the centre, arms and wings outstretched, as he blasts Job with boils. This watercolour is a development of plate 6 of Blake’s designs to the Book of Job, published in 1826. <br/>  </p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-10-26T00:00:00
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-smiting-job-with-sore-boils-n03340" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03340</span></a> <b>Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils</b> <i>c</i>.1826
<br/></p>
<p>N 03340 / B 807
<br/>Pen and tempera on mahogany 326×432 (12 7/8×17)
<br/>Signed ‘W. BLAKE fecit’ incised b.r. Presented by Miss Mary H. Dodge through the National Art-Collections Fund 1918
<br/>PROVENANCE George Richmond; Frederick Locker; Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bt., by 1876; his son, sold Christie's 10 April 1911 (128) £157.10.0 bt Carfax; Miss Mary H. Dodge
<br/>EXHIBITED BFAC 1876 (150, as a watercolour); Carfax 1906 (18); Tate Gallery (10), Manchester (17), Nottingham (11) and Edinburgh (13) 1913–14; <i>English Painting</i> Paris 1938 (160); Paris, Antwerp (pl.6), Zurich (repr.) and Tate Gallery (repr.) 1947 (7); Arts Council 1951 (15); <i>The Devil in Figuralive Art</i>, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; June–September 1952; Tate Gallery 1978 (313, repr.)
<br/>LITERATURE Robertson in Gilehrist 1907, p.491 no.8 (as a varnished watercolour); <i>National Art-Collections Fund Report for 1918</i>, 1919, p.36 no.248, repr.; Binyon 1922, p.17, colour pl.95; Wicksteed <i>Job</i> 1924, p.122 n.3; Binyon and Keynes <i>Job</i> 1935, 1, pp.6–8, 28, repr. p.6; Collins Baker in <i>Huntington Library Bulletin</i>, X, 1936, p.144; Blunt in <i>Warburg Journal</i>, VI, 1943, p.199; Keynes <i>Faber Gallery</i> 1946, pp.5, 14, 24, colour pl.6; Keynes <i>Bible</i> 1957, p.22 no.69, repr.; Blunt 1959, pp.31, 36–7, 83, pl.55b; Damon 1965, pp.49–50; Lindberg 1973, pp.33 no.xxxi, 227–8 no.6e, pl.20; Bindman 1977, p.252 n.14; Klonsky 1977, p.109, repr. in colour; Butlin 1981, pp.551–2 no.807, colour pl.972; Warner 1984, pp.22, 91, 107, 113, 118, 120–1
<br/></p>
<p>This picture is a development of 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 plate 6 of Blake's Illustrations to the Book of Job, published in March 1826 but probably <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>engraved</span></a> the previous year (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-satan-smiting-job-with-sore-boils-a00017" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>A00017</span></a>). Unlike the engraving, and unlike the related compositions in the two preceding series 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>watercolours</span></a>, that painted for Thomas Butts in about 1805–6 and that painted for John Linnel in 1821, and unlike the reduced scale <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> made in preparation for the engravings in 1823–5, Satan is shown with wings and the clouds framing the sun are more schematic; the general effect is more monumental and, although the borders of the engraving add further subtleties of meaning, 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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> seems to represent the final stage of the composition (for the preceding versions see Butlin 1981 nos.550 <i>6</i>, 551 <i>6</i> and 557 <i>17</i>, colour pl.702 and pls. 738 and 766 respectively).
<br/>
<br/>An inscription on the back of 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/panel" title="Glossary definition for 'Panel'"><span>panel</span></a> reads, ‘This drawing by Blake belonged to George Richmond RA Frederick Locker’.</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
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults architecture arm / arms raised Bible: Old Testament boils cloud despair diseases and conditions emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas Job Job, chapter 2 Job’s wife Judaeo-Christian imagery male man nudes pain people religion and belief salvation Satan sea seascapes and coasts sunset times of the day townscape, distant townscapes / man-made features universal religious imagery weather weeping woman