The Dream of Comus - William Blake
Archival giclée
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Description
A visionary watercolour by William Blake illustrating a scene from John Milton's masque, Comus, featuring ethereal figures and symbolic motifs.
This work is one of several watercolours William Blake produced to illustrate John Milton's masque, Comus. Blake frequently engaged with the works of Milton, finding in them a rich source of visionary imagery that aligned with his own mythological systems. In this scene, the artist depicts a figure in repose, surrounded by spectral and serpentine forms that emerge from the shadows. The composition is characteristic of Blake's approach to narrative art, where the physical world is secondary to the psychological or spiritual state of the subject.
The figure lies in a state of vulnerability, while a large, bearded, ethereal presence looms above, suggesting a dream or a supernatural visitation. Blake uses a palette of muted tones, punctuated by the subtle application of colour to define the serpentine coils and the atmospheric haze surrounding the central figure. The line work is precise, typical of his training as an engraver, yet it retains a fluid, expressive quality that allows for the distortion of forms to convey emotional weight. The lion and the serpent, recurring motifs in Blake's iconography, frame the sleeper, adding layers of symbolic tension to the composition.
Blake's interpretation of Milton is not a literal transcription of the text but a personal re-imagining of the poem's themes. By focusing on the dream state, he explores the boundary between the conscious mind and the realm of the imagination. The work demonstrates his ability to integrate text and image, creating a visual language that is both specific to the source material and distinctly his own. This print captures the atmospheric depth and the visionary intensity that define Blake's contribution to British Romantic art.
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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
The Dream of Comus - 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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