The Death of Saint Joseph

1803

William Blake

Associated Names
William Blake

Artist, British, 1757 - 1827

This painting shows a man lying on a bed attended by people with halos of light around their heads. The man is laying horizontally, his head on the right and his feet towards the left. He has a beard, a white cloth over his curly hair, and a white garment on, and his hands are clasped upright on his chest. His lower body and legs are beneath a textured blue blanket. A man and a woman are by his head, holding him. They are both robed in white, and the man has brown hair and a brown beard, while the woman has a long cloth covering her hair. All three people have white skin with hints of pale pink, light blue, and gray. Above the three people, an arched rainbow stretches across the top of the painting. Within the rows of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and pink are faint cherubic faces surrounded by wings, all looking down. The background is dark, with lines radiating outward from the three people.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Thomas Butts [1757-1845], 1803; Thomas Butts, Jr.; Captain F.J. Butts; his widow; sold 1906 through Carfax to W. Graham Robertson [1866-1948]; (his sale, Christie's, London, 22 July 1949, no. 43); (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London). Shaw Kennedy, by 1957. (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London), by 1963. Mr. James Biddle, New York [1929-2005] and Mrs. Louisa Copeland Biddle [later Mrs. Robert Duemling], New York, 1963; Louisa C. Duemling, Washington, DC; gift in 1991 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1876

  • Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of the Works of William Blake, no. 218

1906

  • Carfax exhibition of works by William Blake, born 1757, died 1827 : 14 June to 31 July, 1906, no. 45.

1913

  • The National Gallery of British Art. Loan Exhibition of Works by William Blake, October to December, 1913, no. 38

1914

  • The Manchester Whitworth Institute. Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Works by William Blake, February to March 1914. No. 39 (Exhibited under the title, "The House of Death, or the Lazar House").

  • Nottingham Castle; Catalogue of a loan exhibition of works by William Blake (1757-1827), April, 1914, No. 39.

1927

  • Burlington Fine Arts Club, Blake Centenary Exhibition, no. 34

1947

  • William Blake, 1757-1827, Galerie Rene Drouin, Paris, no. 25

  • Blake, 1757-1827, The British Council, Tate Gallery, London, 1947, no. 35

1991

  • Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, p.124-125.

1994

  • Bosch e o Eterno Retorn [Bosch and the Eternal Return], Palácio Foz, Lisbon, Portugal, 1994 (catalogue by José-Augusto França, Bosch ou "Le Visionnaire Intergral").

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

Bibliography

1906

  • Russell, Archibald G._ The Letters of William Blake _London: Metheun & Co., 1906: 117-124.

1922

  • Binyon, Laurence, _ The Drawings and Engravings of William Blake. _ London: The Studio, Limited, 1922: 21-22, No. 49.

1925

  • Figgis, Darrell, _The Paintings of William Blake. _ London: Ernest Benn, Limited, 1925: 72-73, No. 53.

1952

  • Preston, Kerrison, _ The Blake Collection of W. Graham Robertson. _ London: Faber and Faber. LTD, 1952: no. 62, 158-159.

1956

  • Bentley, Jr, G. E., “Thomas Butts, White Collar Maecenas,”_ PMLA _71.5 (1956): 1052-1066.

  • Keynes, Geoffrey_ The Letters of William Blake. _London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1956: 86-90.

1957

  • Keynes, Geoffrey_ William Blake’s Illustrations to the Bible: a catalogue. _ Boissia, Clairvaux, Jura, France: Trianon Press for the William Blake Trust, 1957: 172.

1959

  • Blunt, Anthony, _ The Art of William Blake. _ New York, Evanston, San Francisco, and London: Harper and Row, 1959: 108.

1968

  • Raine, Kathleen_ Blake and Tradition Vol. I. _New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1968: 413-412.

1969

  • Bentley, Jr, G. E._ Blake Records. _ Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969: 570-571.

1971

  • Gage, John, “Blake’s Newton,”_ Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes _34 (1971): 372-377, pg 375.

1972

  • Keynes, Geoffrey_ Blake Complete Writings. _London: Oxford University Press, 1972: 823-826.

1974

  • Mellor, Anne Kostelanetz_ Blake’s Human Form Divine. _Berkely and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974: 193-197.

1977

  • Bindman, David_ Blake as an Artist. _Oxford: Phaidon, 1977: 132-139.

1981

  • Butlin, Martin. _ The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake _. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981: 365-366.

1990

  • Butlin, Martin_ William Blake 1757-1827. _London: Tate Gallery Collections, 1990: 122.

  • Johnson, Mary Lynn, “David’s Recognition of the Human Face of God in Blake’s Design for the book of Pslams,” in_ Blake and his Bibles _edited by David V. Erdman, pgs. 117-156. Connecticut: Locust Hill Press, 1990: 119-120.

1991

  • _ Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art _. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991: p.124.

2013

  • Kelly, Franklin. "William Blake, The Death of Saint Joseph." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 49 (Fall 2013): 22-23 (color).

Inscriptions

lower left in pen and black ink: WB inv 1803

Wikidata ID

Q64636570

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