Death of the Strong Wicked Man, from "The Grave," a Poem by Robert Blair

Art Historical Context

"Death of the Strong Wicked" is a poignant engraving from William Blake's series illustrating Robert Blair's 1743 poem *The Grave*, a meditation on mortality and the afterlife. Designed by the visionary Romantic artist Blake and masterfully engraved by Luigi Schiavetti, this plate was published on May 1, 1808, by Cadell and Davies. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, it captures a dramatic moment of judgment and sorrow, evoking themes of death, sadness, male nudes, and mourning women through its intense composition. Blake's ethereal style, infused with mysticism and Gothic drama, shines in this work, where muscular male figures and lamenting women swirl around the central scene of a wicked man's demise. The engraving medium was crucial: Schiavonetti's precise technique translated Blake's intricate pencil and watercolor designs into reproducible prints, making Blake's apocalyptic visions accessible to a wider audience during the Romantic era's fascination with the sublime and the macabre. This piece exemplifies how 19th-century illustrators bridged poetry and visual art, influencing later book design and print culture. Measuring about 8 x 10 inches on the plate, its compact power invites visitors to ponder Blair's verse: the strong but sinful felled by fate, a timeless reminder of human fragility.

About the Artist

William Blake|Cadell and Davies|Robert Blair|Luigi Schiavonetti · 1757–1827

William Blake (1757–1827) stands as one of the most visionary and unconventional artists in British history, a poet-painter-printmaker whose mystical imagination and radical vision profoundly shaped the Romantic movement. Born in London's Soho district, Blake experienced visions from childhood—claiming to see angels in trees at age eight—and these spiritual encounters would guide his art throughou...