The Poems of Thomas Gray, Design 105, "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard."
Date:
between 1797 and 1798
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor with pen and black ink and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper with inlaid letterpress page
Dimensions:
Sheet: 16 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches (41.9 x 32.4 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in black ink upper right: "1"; on verso in black ink upper left: "2"; in black ink center: "Elegy | 1. The author writing | 2. Contemplation among Tombs | 3. 'The Plowman homeward plods his weary way | And leaves the world to darkness & to me' | 4. 'For him no more the blazing hearth shall burn | Nor children run to lisp their sires return' | 5. 'Oft did the Harvest to their sickle yield' | 6. Chill penury repressd their noble rage' | 7. 'Some Village Hampden that with dauntless breast | The little Tyrant of his Fields withstood' | 8. 'Many a holy text around she strews' | 9. 'Some kindred spirit shall enquire thy fate | Haply some hoary headed swain may say | Oft &c' | 10. 'Slow thro the Churchway path we saw him borne' | 11. A Shepherd reading the Epitaph | 12. A Spirit conducted to Paradise"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1992.8.11(53)
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
book | tomb | man | church | thorns | literary theme | arch | column (architectural element) | vault (structural element) | woman | trees | text | grave | cathedral | writing (processes)
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
William Blake - The Artist (Tate Britain, 2019-09-11 - 2020-02-20)
Publications:
Colin Cross, Blake revealed, William Blake : Discovery of a Masterwork , Observer, vol. 12, November 21, 1971, pp. 19-23, V 1245 Detached from Observer colour magazineArnold Fawcus, Unknown Watercolours by William Blake, Illustrated London News, vol. 259, No. 6881, December 25, 1971, pp. 45-46, 49-51, Illustrated London News Historical ArchiveWilliam Blake, Tate Publishing, London, p. 107, p. 108, cat. 82 (recto), cat. 83 (verso), NJ18.B57 M97 2019 (LC) Oversize (YCBA)