The Grave, A Poem

The Grave, A Poem

William Blake

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This second edition of "The Grave" was published by Ackermann in 1813. The twelve prints it contains had first been issued by Robert Hartley Comek in 1808, engraved by Schiavonetti. The images are based on watercolors by Blake and proved to be the latter's most popular work with his contemporaries. When Blake received the commission in 1808, he expected to also act as engraver but, Cromek deemed his first plate, "Death's Door," too experimental and gave the job to Schiavonetti. As a result, the project sheds fascinating light on how commercial forces denied a profoundly original artist of the opportunity to translate his own work into print, but also circulated his designs to a wide public.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.