William Blake and the NGV: the history of the Virgil wood engravings

‘There is a spirit in them, humble enough and of force enough to move simple souls to tears’.¹Edward Calvert quoted in Samuel Calvert, A Memoir of Edward Calvert, Artist, 1893, p. 19.

The decision of the NGV Trustees to purchase a cache of William Blake’s watercolours illustrating The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri in 1918 marked the beginning of an enduring interest in collecting the work of this visionary British artist. Subsequently, a diverse and much-admired collection of work produced by Blake has been amassed, including impressions of intimate wood engravings designed for Dr Robert Thornton’s The Pastorals of Virgil. Purchased in London in 1959 by the NGV’s Keeper of Prints, Dr Ursula Hoff, and once forming part of the collection of Blake’s great friend, patron and fellow artist John Linnell, the NGV’s Virgil wood engravings are a composite and incomplete group that provide an insight into the history of these exquisite works.² National Gallery of Victoria Trustees’ Meeting, 5 April 1960, Minute #5739 states ‘Curator of Prints and Drawings reported arrival of Blake’s woodcut and illustration of Virgil’s Eclogues, once in the possession of John Lindell [sic.], purchased by Dr. Hoff in London in 1959.’ I am grateful to Julia Jackson, Former Cataloguer, NGV, for locating this reference. The NGV holds fourteen of the seventeen Virgil designs engraved by Blake. (see fig. 1.).

Fig. 1: John Linnell, William Blake, wearing hat, three-quarter view, half-length with hands. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Background to the commission
In 1821 Linnell approached Dr Thornton recommending Blake produce seventeen wood engravings for his third edition of The Pastorals of Virgil, a schoolbook designed to teach young boys Latin. Thornton’s vision was to publish ‘a Virgil worthy of the nation – for the benefit of the rising generation – & to inspire them with a love for the arts…’.³ Letter from Dr Robert Thornton to John Linnell, 15 Sep. 1820, in G. E. Bentley, Jr ‘(1969) Blake Records’, Oxford at Clarendon Press, p. 266. Having recently spent time living in the country village of Felpham, Blake must have relished the opportunity to illustrate Ambrose Philip’s imitation of Virgil’s first eclogue, which traced the lives of two shepherds through various rural settings.⁴ This seventeenth-century cottage in West Sussex is currently undergoing urgent repair to preserve it as a place that celebrates William Blake and inspires future generations of artists across all disciplines. See The Blake Cottage Trust, https://www.blakecottage.org/, accessed 28 February 2025.

Fig. 2: William Blake, preparatory drawing for Thornton’s Virgil, The Blighted Corn. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

This was to be Blake’s first and only attempt at wood engraving, which involves cutting a design into the end grain of a piece of timber. ⁵ The end grain is the side of a piece of timber that is cut across the concentric growth rings. He created ink and wash preparatory drawings that he later copied in India ink onto pieces of boxwood in readiness for engraving. (see fig. 2.) Blake cut the compositional lines away so when the woodblock was covered in ink and printed, they appeared white while the uncut areas appeared black.⁶ For more information about the printing process see Louise Wilson, Technical examination of William Blake’s Virgil wood engravings, National Gallery of Victoria, , accessed 30 June 2025. (see fig. 3).

Fig. 3: William Blake, Thenot under a fruit tree, 1820–21

Several proofs printed by Blake survive and demonstrate how four images were carved onto a single piece of boxwood. (see fig. 4). In preparation for publication, Thornton had the blocks cut into separate images and reduced each in size presumably to fit the standard paper size he had chosen for the project with minimal wastage.

Fig. 4: William Blake, Four proofs, printed together on one page of illustrations to Ambrose Philips’s ‘Imitation of Eclogue 1’ in Thornton’s ‘Pastorals of Virgil’, London, 1821. © The Trustees of the British Museum

The history of the woodblocks 1825–1937
Thornton’s Pastorals of Virgil was published in 1821, and in 1825 Linnell purchased Blake’s woodblocks for his personal collection. (see fig. 5).

Fig. 5: William Blake, the original woodblocks engraved for printing the Virgil wood engravings. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Several years later, he commissioned fellow artist Edward Calvert to print sets of wood engravings from the blocks, a task he completed in 1828.⁷ Raymond Lister, Edward Calvert, G. Bell and Sons, London, 1962, p. 24. Calvert is best known for his intricate wood engravings of pastoral idylls. These are heavily influenced by Blake’s Virgil designs, which he admired, later writing to his son Samuel:

‘Some small woodcuts of Blake are in your possession, they are only illustrations of a little pastoral poem by Phillips. They are done as if by a child; several of them careless and incorrect, yet there is a spirit in them, humble enough and of force enough to move simple souls to tears.’⁸ Samuel Calvert, op.cit., p. 19.

Calvert ceased producing his own meticulous prints around 1831 and is unlikely to have printed from the Virgil woodblocks after this date. ⁹ Martin Butlin & Ted Gott, William Blake in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989, p. 138.

John Linnell had four sons who are all documented as artists in census records, and four daughters, of whom only the eldest, Hannah, is known to have been an artist. With ready access to the woodblocks throughout the nineteenth century, the family is known to have embarked on numerous printing sessions. ¹⁰I am indebted to Professor Robert N. Essick, University of California, and the late Nick Lott, of Larkhall Fine Art in Bath, for their insights into the Linnell family’s printing sessions. The last known impressions produced by the Linnell family were commercially printed by Burns & Oates Ltd. in London in 1892 under the instruction of John Linnell’s grandson, John Linnell III. Nick Lott, Linnell’s impressions of Blake’s Virgil engravings, email correspondence, 5 July 2019. Burns & Oates printed a small number of impressions on China paper adhered to medium-weight wove paper in the manner of a chine collé print. I am indebted to Lauren Lott of Larkhall Fine Art in Bath for showing me these impressions and the archival material relating to them.

To determine whether Calvert or members of the Linnell family printed the NGV impressions, over 150 wood engravings were examined in various collections throughout the United Kingdom.¹¹Peter Clemenger AM and the late Joan Clemenger AO supported this travel opportunity. The author noted a distinctive printing quirk in numerous Calvert prints as well as impressions of Virgil wood engravings, whereby lines of slightly reduced inking pass through the image at regular intervals.¹²Louise Wilson, ‘Printing imperfections in William Blake’s Virgil wood engravings and what they reveal’, in Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, vol. 56, no. 2, , accessed 23 May 2025. This printing characteristic can assist in identifying prints pulled by Calvert, and while no NGV impressions bear this Calvert hallmark, they all carry evidence that strongly links them to the Linnell family.

Printing sessions within the Linnell family
Of the NGV’s fourteen impressions, nine are printed on a light weight, opaque paper known as ‘China paper’, which is made from bamboo fibres mixed with a small amount of clay.¹³ China paper is believed to have first come to the United Kingdom as the lining of timber chests carrying tea. Since the tea was imported by the British East India Company, it is sometimes referred to as ‘India’ paper, however this is a misnomer. Jenkins, P. ‘Plate papers and India Proof Prints’ in The Quarterly Journal of the British Association of Paper Historians, December 1994, p. 1. Most impressions thought to have been printed by the Linnell family are printed on China paper, which was readily available from printers’ engineers such as Hughes and Kimber, who were operating in London from the 1820s.¹⁴ Jacob Simon, British artists’ suppliers, 1650–1950, National Portrait Gallery, , accessed 23 May 2025. Linnell had an account with this firm, so it is possible the China paper used for the Linnell impressions was purchased from this company.¹⁵ ibid; William Brown, A Practical Manual of Wood Engraving with a Brief Account of the History of the Art, Crosby, Lockwood & Co., London, 1886, p. 18.

Most surviving Virgil wood engravings have very narrow margins cut with a knife. Some are more carefully trimmed than others, but without exception, of those examined, none were cut with the assistance of a guide such as a ruler to ensure they were perfectly straight and in many cases the knife was not sharp, causing jagged edges. Most of the NGV’s impressions conform to this same style of cutting. (see fig. 6).

Fig. 6: William Blake, Sabrina’s silvery flood, 1820–21

Once trimmed, members of the Linnell family had sets of Virgil prints assembled into small albums. Several of these survive intact and include inscriptions confirming they belonged to family members.¹⁶ For example, a small album in The Fitzwilliam Museum (P.59-1950) has an inscription at the front that reads ‘Mary Linnell Given to her by her Papa’. Mary was the daughter of William Linnell, one of John Linnell’s sons. The wood engravings were spot adhered to the album pages using a water-soluble adhesive that now appears orange/brown in colour. In most instances, the prints are adhered at the upper corners only. Four NGV impressions have localised orange/brown stains on the upper corners indicating they were once adhered to a secondary support in the manner of the Linnell family and may have once been part of albums.¹⁷ The NGV works with this characteristic staining are Thenot under fruit tree, accession number 1874-5, Thenot remonstrates with Colinet, Lightfoot in background, accession number 1875-5, Blasted tree and flattened crops, accession number 1877-5 and Shepherd chases away wolf, accession number 1878-5. The NGV works with this characteristic staining are Thenot under fruit tree, accession number 1874-5, Thenot remonstrates with Colinet, Lightfoot in background, accession number 1875-5, Blasted tree and flattened crops, accession number 1877-5 and Shepherd chases away wolf, accession number 1878-5. (see fig. 7).

Fig. 7: William Blake, Thenot remonstrates with Colinet, 1820–21

Inscriptions
Each NGV impression has a number written on the verso in pencil, some correspond with the order in which the images appear in Thornton, while others do not. Given many impressions studied were adhered to album pages, it was not possible to view the back of each print; however, a set examined at the National Gallery of Scotland are all numbered in a similar way.¹⁸The accession number for this set is P2727.1-17. It has been suggested this set was printed by Linnell’s son’s.¹⁹Michael Phillips William Blake Apprentice and Master, 2014, p. 191. They are mounted with an envelope addressed to his son William, suggesting he may have been involved in printing them; however, examination revealed the Calvert printing quirk on five impressions.

The sale of John Linnell’s collection
John Linnell built a significant collection of William Blake works and when he died in 1882, he left instructions for his home, its contents, and the estate to become part of a Trust on the death of his last unmarried child, which occurred in 1917.²⁰Katherine A. Riches, Statement on behalf of herself and her sisters Emilie S. Ivimy and Isabelle Linnell, Daughters of William Linnell, 24 April 1938, PM 395-2000, The John Linnell Archive, The Fitzwilliam Museum. The Trustees arranged the sale of John Linnell’s collection at Christies, London, in March 1918 and it was at this sale the NGV purchased 36 of the 102 watercolours Linnell had commissioned Blake to created illustrating The Divine Comedy. Linnell’s Blake collection had been

‘kept under lock and key in the Studio at Redstone Wood until Miss Sarah Linnell’s death and on that occurrance [sic.] Messrs. Christies were instructed to go to the house and remove anything from the Studio of value with a view to the sale which took place in 1918.’²¹G. R. Harvey, Letter to Katherine A. Riches, 24 June 1938, PM 409-2000, The John Linnell Archive, The Fitzwilliam Museum.

Blake’s Virgil preliminary drawings, excepting the frontispiece drawing, were included in the sale, mounted together in an album.²²Unknown, Catalogue of the John Linnell Collection, 1918, Messrs Christie, Manson and Woods, Lot 205, p. 28. They found their way to the Brick Row Booksellers, in New York, where the album was disbound and drawings sold separately.²³The drawing for the frontispiece had previously been sold as part of Lot 122 in the 4 February 1912 Christies auction. It had once belonged to the artist Samuel Palmer who was married to John Linnell’s daughter Hannah. C.E. Hewitt, John Linnell Trust, letter to Katherine A. Riches, 1937, PM 367-2000, The John Linnell Archive, The Fitzwilliam Museum. The Virgil woodblocks were not included in the sale, possibly because they were overlooked, being stored together in a small box.²⁴Leach Sims & Co., Re John Linnell Trust, Instruction to counsel to advise on behalf of the Surviving Trustee, Mr. C.E. Hewitt, PM432-2000, The John Linnell Archive, The Fitzwilliam Museum. Additionally, Linnell’s house was described as ‘very large and densely filled with Works of Art and papers’.²⁵ibid. It was not until his son Herbert died in 1937 that the woodblocks were unexpectedly found among his effects. When the woodblocks were auctioned by Christies in December 1937, renowned surgeon and Blake scholar Sir Geoffrey Keynes worked with the descendants of John Linnell to ensure they would be purchased for the nation by the National Art Collections Fund.²⁶Geoffrey Keynes, letter to Katherine Riches, 24 Jan. 1938, The John Linnell Archive, PM383-2000. They now form part of the British Museum’s superb Blake collection.

Although it has not been possible to trace the specific history of the NGV’s Virgil wood engravings, the materials and techniques used to print and display them strongly link them to the Linnell family.

Notes