Evening

c. 1820/1825

William Blake

Associated Names
William Blake

Artist, British, 1757 - 1827

This painting depicts a woman in a flowing dress. She faces us, with one arm extended downward and the other arm raised above her head. Her raised hand appears to hold the edge of a flowing cloth that drapes down behind her. A different cloth covers her head, and her facial features include thin, arched eyebrows, a straight nose, and small, slightly smiling lips. She wears a long gown with what looks like a crescent moon on her chest, and she is barefoot, with her toes visible below the edge of her dress. She holds a wand-like object in her hand, extended towards the bottom left corner. The wand appears to be topped with three flowers or buds. The background is plain beige paper, and the lines of the painting have been done in pale gray.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Rev. John Johnson; Canon Cowper Johnson; Bertram R. Vaughan Johnson; his widow; Rev. B. Talbot Vaughan Johnson; the Vaughan Johnson Trust; (sale, Sotheby's, 18 July 1979, no. 59); purchased by (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London) for Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hanes, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; gift 1990 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1947

  • William Blake, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, Paris, Antwerp and Zurich, 1947, no. 34

1991

  • Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, unnumbered catalogue, color repro.

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

2019

  • William Blake (Tate), Tate, London, 2019 - 2020, no. 95, repro.

Bibliography

1981

  • Butlin, Martin. The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake. New Haven, 1981: no. 809

1991

  • Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991: 134-135, color repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 348-349, no. 279, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20184323

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