DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31843#0081
CATALOGUE OF BLAKE'S ENGRAVED DESIGNS
occupies the centre of the cavalcade, directs them to the Knight as
the person who would be likely to commence their task of each telling
a tale in their order. After the Host follow the Shipman, the Haber-
dasher, the Dyer, the Franklin, the Physician, the Plowman, the
Lawyer, the poor Parson, the Merchant, the Wife of Bath, the Miller,
the Cook, the Oxford Scholar, Chaucer himself, and the Reeve comes
as Chaucer has described :
* And ever he rode hinderest of the rout.’
These last are issuing from the gateway of the Inn; the Cook and
the Wife of Bath are both taking their morning's draught of comfort.
Spectators stand at the gateway of the Inn, and are composed of an
old Man, a Woman, and Children. . . . The Landscape is an east-
ward view of the country, from the Tabarde Inn, in Southwark, as it
may be supposed to have appeared in Chaucer's time; interspersed
with cottages and villages ; the first beams of the Sun are seen above
the horizion ; some buildings and spires indicate the situation of the
Great City.'' The names of the characters are engraved beneath the
figures. Below, Painted in Fresco by William Blake & by him Engraved
& Published October 8, 1810, at No, 28, Corner of Broad Street,
Golden Square.
n|X37i in,
First State : As described. The sky is noticeably lighter than in
the later state.
Second State : Re-worked and altogether heavier in effect. The
address is erased, and the line We gon to Canterbury God wote
you spede is added below. According to Russell, “ Blake’s
original engraved copper-plate is still in existence, and modern
impressions from it are of not infrequent occurrence.” Tinted
impressions are known. One of these belongs to Mr, and
Mrs. Stuart Moore (Eveyln Underhill).
The original painting belongs to Sir John Stirling Maxwell, Bart.
The Descriptive Catalogue, written by Blake for the exhibition of
1809, contains the well-known commentary on the picture which Lamb
declared to be the finest criticism he had ever read of Chaucer's
poem.
In a prospectus (printed in full by Russell in his Appendix along
with the other prospectus from which the above description has been
quoted) Blake announces that he u proposes to engrave in a correct
61
occupies the centre of the cavalcade, directs them to the Knight as
the person who would be likely to commence their task of each telling
a tale in their order. After the Host follow the Shipman, the Haber-
dasher, the Dyer, the Franklin, the Physician, the Plowman, the
Lawyer, the poor Parson, the Merchant, the Wife of Bath, the Miller,
the Cook, the Oxford Scholar, Chaucer himself, and the Reeve comes
as Chaucer has described :
* And ever he rode hinderest of the rout.’
These last are issuing from the gateway of the Inn; the Cook and
the Wife of Bath are both taking their morning's draught of comfort.
Spectators stand at the gateway of the Inn, and are composed of an
old Man, a Woman, and Children. . . . The Landscape is an east-
ward view of the country, from the Tabarde Inn, in Southwark, as it
may be supposed to have appeared in Chaucer's time; interspersed
with cottages and villages ; the first beams of the Sun are seen above
the horizion ; some buildings and spires indicate the situation of the
Great City.'' The names of the characters are engraved beneath the
figures. Below, Painted in Fresco by William Blake & by him Engraved
& Published October 8, 1810, at No, 28, Corner of Broad Street,
Golden Square.
n|X37i in,
First State : As described. The sky is noticeably lighter than in
the later state.
Second State : Re-worked and altogether heavier in effect. The
address is erased, and the line We gon to Canterbury God wote
you spede is added below. According to Russell, “ Blake’s
original engraved copper-plate is still in existence, and modern
impressions from it are of not infrequent occurrence.” Tinted
impressions are known. One of these belongs to Mr, and
Mrs. Stuart Moore (Eveyln Underhill).
The original painting belongs to Sir John Stirling Maxwell, Bart.
The Descriptive Catalogue, written by Blake for the exhibition of
1809, contains the well-known commentary on the picture which Lamb
declared to be the finest criticism he had ever read of Chaucer's
poem.
In a prospectus (printed in full by Russell in his Appendix along
with the other prospectus from which the above description has been
quoted) Blake announces that he u proposes to engrave in a correct
61