Request to view

This object can be requested via email from the Prints & Drawings Study Room

Image of Gallery in South Kensington

We don’t have an image of this object online yet.

More about images

V&A Images may have a photograph that we can’t show online, but it may be possible to supply one to you. Email us at vaimages@vam.ac.uk for guidance about fees and timescales, quoting the accession number: E.762-1955

London

Electrotype Block
1863 (made), 1794 (designed), 1863 (published)
Artist/Maker
Blake, William (artist)
Place of origin
London (made)

1 of 16 electrotype blocks showing a page from Songs of Innocence and Experience featuring an illustrated poem 'London'. Beside a wall and wooden doorway, a child guides an elderly man with long white hair and beard, who is walking on crutches. Below is the text of the poem with a person warming themselves at a fire.

Object details

Categories
Printmaking Techniques
Prints
Object type
Electrotype block
Titles
  • London (assigned by artist)
  • Songs of Innocence and Experience (published title)
  • Life of William Blake (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Electrotype block
Copper
Wood
Electrotyping
Brief description
Electrotyped printing block from a relief etching. William Blake. Plate to Gilchrist's Life of William Blake, London, 1863, reproducing Blake's original relief etchings for Songs of Innocence and of Experience, first published in 1794.
Physical description
1 of 16 electrotype blocks showing a page from Songs of Innocence and Experience featuring an illustrated poem 'London'. Beside a wall and wooden doorway, a child guides an elderly man with long white hair and beard, who is walking on crutches. Below is the text of the poem with a person warming themselves at a fire.
Dimensions
  • Height: 11.43cm
  • Width: 7.62cm
  • Depth: 2.4cm
Taken from Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1955-1956 London: HMSO 1963
Style
British School
Marks and inscriptions
  • LONDON
  • [words to the poem]
  • No. 46 (Hand-written on back)
Credit line
Given by Sir Geoffrey Keynes
Subjects depicted
Fire
Crutches
Child
Man
Place depicted
London
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1955-1956 London: HMSO, 1963
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.762-1955

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1056201/london-electrotype-block-blake-william/
Download as: JSON