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les collections aristophil
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BLAKE WILLIAM
(1757-1827).
Poète, peintre et graveur anglais.
P.S. « William Blake », 5 juillet 1805 ; 1 page oblong in-8
(7,7 x 18,8 cm) avec timbre fiscal à sec ; en anglais.
4 000 / 5 000 €
Rarissime reçu à un collectionneur et mécène.
Reçu de Mr Butts 5 livres et sept shillings d’acompte.
Thomas BUTTS (1757-1845) a été le mécène principal de William Blake ;
il lui assura pendant de longues années des versements d’argent qui
lui donnèrent de quoi vivre, en échange d’œuvres.
L’année 1805 fut une année particulièrement dure pour Blake. Plusieurs
de ses clients se détournèrent de ses œuvres aux visions ténébreuses
et sa situation financière s’assombrit. Seul Thomas Butts n’a jamais
semblé douter de son génie, et lui octroya un salaire régulier qui lui
permit d’avoir des revenus stables, bien que modestes, pendant les
cinq années qui suivirent.
BLAKE WILLIAM
(1757-1827).
English poet, painter and printmaker.
Signed document signed « William Blake », one page,
oblong small octavo (dimensions: 7,7 x 18,8 cm), 5 July,
1805; in English.
4 000 / 5 000 €
An extremely rare autograph of the great poet and artist William Blake
made out to his patron and collector Thomas Butts.
Receipt: “Received of Mr. Butts five Pounds seven Shillings on further
account.”
The year 1805 was a hard one for Blake. His works were filled with
visions of death and, when several of his patrons drifted away, his
financial situation darkened, bringing him to a selfdescribed state of
“despair.” “But there was one patron who never seemed to doubt
his genius and...Thomas Butts...took over the role of Blake’s principal
employer; for the next five years he gave him regular payments that
allowed him to maintain a steady if modest income” [Peter Ackroyd,
Blake,
1996]. Butts’s support and confidence gave Blake new hope
and a new artistic vision and he suddenly produced works for Butts
that showed “an exultant spirituality that is quite new in Blake’s art.
There is also more splendour and nobility in the conception of the
human figures, who seem touched by some mystery, a mystery that
Blake characteristically suggests through the powerful use of light”
[Ackroyd,
Blake,
1996].