Satan Smiting Job with Boils
1825
Medium
engraving on thick paper
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.1672
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *Satan Smiting Job with Boils* (1825) is a powerful engraving from his monumental series *Illustrations of the Book of Job*, one of the artist's final masterpieces produced in his later years. This scene captures a pivotal moment from the Old Testament, where Satan afflicts the righteous Job with sores as a test of faith, surrounded by Job's despairing family. Blake, a visionary Romantic artist and poet, drew deeply from biblical narratives to explore profound themes of suffering, divine mystery, and human resilience, infusing his work with personal mysticism that blurred the l...
About the Artist
William Blake · 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...