Raphael Warns Adam and Eve - William Blake
Archival giclée
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Description
A delicate watercolour illustration by William Blake depicting the archangel Raphael warning Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
This work is one of the series of watercolours William Blake produced to illustrate John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost. Blake, a visionary poet and artist, often engaged with the themes of fall, redemption, and the human condition through his unique visual language. In this scene, the archangel Raphael sits with Adam and Eve, gesturing towards the heavens as he delivers his warning regarding the dangers of disobedience.
The composition is framed by a natural archway of foliage, which creates a sense of enclosure and intimacy. Blake employs his characteristic linear style, where fine ink outlines define the musculature and drapery of the figures. The palette is muted, relying on soft washes of watercolour to suggest light and atmosphere rather than realistic volume. The figures are rendered with an ethereal quality, typical of Blake's approach to biblical and mythological subjects.
Behind the central figures, the tree of knowledge stands as a clear marker of the impending narrative shift, with the serpent coiled around its trunk. The presence of animals in the background, including a lion and a deer, reinforces the paradisiacal setting of the Garden of Eden. Blake's interpretation of Milton is not merely a literal depiction of the text, but a personal meditation on the nature of innocence and the moral choices facing humanity. The work demonstrates his ability to integrate text and image, a practice he refined throughout his career in his illuminated books. This print captures the delicate balance between the human and the divine, a recurring theme in Blake's body of work.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Raphael Warns Adam and Eve - William Blake
Artist Biography
William Blake
He married Catherine Boucher in 1782. She was illiterate at the time and signed the marriage register with an X. He taught her to read, write, and engrave, and she became his collaborator for the next forty-five years: mixing paint, operating the printing press, hand-colouring plates, and binding the finished pages into covers.
Their working method was Blake's own invention, revealed to him (he said) in a dream by the spirit of his dead brother Robert. Relief etching reversed the standard printmaking process: instead of cutting lines into copper, Blake wrote and drew on the plate in acid-resistant varnish, then dissolved the surrounding metal with acid, leaving text and image raised. This allowed him to compose poetry and illustration simultaneously on a single plate, print them together, then hand-colour each sheet in watercolour. Every copy was therefore unique. Songs of Innocence and of Experience was produced this way. He sold fewer than thirty copies during his lifetime.
In 1803, he physically threw a soldier named John Schofield out of his garden in Felpham. He was charged with assault and with uttering treasonable expressions against the King. He was acquitted at the Chichester assizes in January 1804.
Newton, painted in 1795, shows the scientist as a young man with the body of a Greek god, bent forward at the bottom of a dark ocean, fixing his gaze on a pair of compasses, measuring and drawing on a scroll that appears to project from his own head. It is a painting about the limits of reason: beautiful, precise, and missing everything beyond the edge of the paper. The Ancient of Days, from the same period, depicts his mythological figure Urizen crouching at the edge of a void, reaching down with a compass to measure the darkness below.
He died on 12 August 1827, working on illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. He was buried at Bunhill Fields. The wider recognition came decades later.
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