Artwork
Job and His Daughters
Job and His Daughters is a tempera painting by the Romanticist artist William Blake. It dates from 1800 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1800, *Job and His Daughters* is a modestly sized work executed in pen and tempera on canvas. The composition presents an elderly, bearded figure seated on a couch, arms outstretched, flanked by two women and a younger girl positioned before him. Warm, muted tones dominate the scene, lending it an intimate, domestic atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The painting draws on the biblical narrative of Job, portraying the patriarch in a moment of vulnerability surrounded by his daughters. The gesture of open arms suggests both supplication and acceptance, while the close arrangement of the women conveys familial concern and solidarity. Blake’s choice of this episode reflects his interest in spiritual endurance and moral testing.
Technique & Style
Blake combines fine pen work with tempera washes, allowing for precise outlines and subtle color modulation. The tempera medium contributes to the matte, luminous surface typical of his early paintings. The figure rendering is stylized rather than strictly naturalistic, emphasizing symbolic gesture over anatomical exactness, a hallmark of Blake’s imaginative visual language.
History & Provenance
The work was produced during Blake’s London period, before his brief relocation to Felpham in 1800‑01. It remained largely unnoticed in his lifetime, as most of his visual output did. The painting entered public collections only in the twentieth century, when scholars began reassessing Blake’s contributions to Romantic art.
Context
*Job and His Daughters* belongs to the religious genre that Blake frequently explored, alongside his poetry and illuminated books. The piece reflects the broader Romantic preoccupation with individual experience, inner feeling, and the use of biblical themes to probe universal human conditions. Its symbolic density aligns with Blake’s simultaneous pursuits in literature and visual art.
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Artist & collection
Artist
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker.
