Relief etching, 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>
Plate 4 Visions Daughters Albion
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
Blake, William, ‘Visions of the Daughters of Albion’
chain
characters
comforting
crime and punishment
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
female
flying
grief
imprisonment
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
man
nudes
objects
Oothoon
people
rocky
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
sunrise
sunset
Theotormon
times of the day
tools and machinery
wave
weeping
woman
<p>The design shown here occupies the top part of a page in Visions of the Daughters of Albion. It illustrates lines from an earlier page: 'Why does my Theotormon sit weeping upon the threshhold: / And Oothoon hovers by his side, perswading him in vain:'. In the frontispiece, shown above, the female Oothoon can also be seen, with her lover Theotormon crouched in despair. In the book the daughters of Albion - the women of England - are described as 'enslav'd' and weeping. This sentiment can be associated with Mary Wollstonecraft's book A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2001</em></p>
paper unique relief etching ink watercolour
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
6 December 2004 – 15 August 2005
2005-08-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2004-12-06
Blake and Jerusalem
Collection based display
30 April 2007 – 21 October 2007
2007-10-21
23 April 2007
2007-04-23
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2007-04-30
1807 - Blake, Slavery, and the Radical Mind
Collection based display
18 October 2008 – 5 April 2009
2009-04-05
18 October 2008 – 19 April 2009
2009-04-19
2008-10-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2008-10-18
Blake and Collins
Collection based display
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
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
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
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
Plate 4 of ‘Visions of the Daughters of Albion’
support: 75 × 115 mm
frame: 332 × 294 × 18 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>The design shown here occupies the top part of a page in Visions of the Daughters  of Albion. It illustrates lines from an earlier page: 'Why does my Theotormon sit weeping upon the threshhold: / And Oothoon hovers by his side, perswading him in vain:'. In the frontispiece, shown above, the female Oothoon can also be seen, with her lover Theotormon crouched  in despair. In the book the daughters of Albion - the women of England - are described as 'enslav'd' and weeping.  This sentiment can be associated with  Mary Wollstonecraft's book A Vindication  of the Rights of Women, 1792.</p>
Display caption
2001-10-24T00:00:00
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-plate-4-of-visions-of-the-daughters-of-albion-n03374" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03374</span></a> <b>Plate 4 of <i>Visions of the Daughters of Albion</i></b>
1793/<i>c.</i>1795
<br/></p>
<p>N 03374 / B 265
<br/>Colour-printed relief etching finished in ink and watercolour 75 × 115 (2 7/8×4 5/8) on paper 282 × 245 (11 1/4×9 5/8)
<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, sold Christie's 15 March 1918 (175) £17.17.0 bt Martin for presentation to the Tate Gallery
<br/>EXHIBITED Paris and Vienna 1937 (5)
<br/>LITERATURE Damon 1924, p.333; Wright 1929, 11, p.18; Erdman in <i>Warburg Journal</i>, XV, 1952, p.246; Keynes and Wolf 1953, pp.26, 89; Digby 1957, p.76, pl.68; Beer 1968, pp.43–4; Erdman 1969, p.233; Duerksen in <i>Blake Newsletter</i>, VI, 1972–3, p.72; Jackson, Murray and Duerksen in <i>Blake Newsletter</i>, VIII, 1974–5, pp.91–6; Bentley <i>Blake Books</i>, 1977, pp.471, 478; Beer in Phillips 1978, pp.211–15; Mitchell 1978, pp.66–7, 158; Butlin 1981, p.146 no.265, colour pl.338
<br/></p>
<p>This design fills a bit over the upper third of the page in the original book and seems to have illustrated Oothoon's lament from plate 2 (Keynes <i>Writings</i> 1957, p.190),</p>
<p></p>
<p>Why does my Theotormon sit weeping upon the threshold;
<br/>And Oothoon hovers by his side, perswading him in vain.</p>
<p>
<br/>This corresponds to page 4 of the large <i>Book of Designs</i> in the British Museum (Butlin 1981, no.262 <i>4</i>, pl.365). There are two rough sketches 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/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> in Blake's <i>Notebook</i> (Butlin 1981, no.201 <i>50</i> and <i>92</i>, repr. Erdman and Moore 1973).</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 Blake, William, ‘Visions of the Daughters of Albion’ chain characters comforting crime and punishment emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas female flying grief imprisonment literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) man nudes objects Oothoon people rocky sea seascapes and coasts society sunrise sunset Theotormon times of the day tools and machinery wave weeping woman