The Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind
Britain
28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind
plate 13 from Illustrations of the Book of Job
1823-26; published 1874
engraving on chine collé on paper
- Place made
- published by John Linnell, London
- Medium
- engraving on chine collé on paper
- State
- 2nd edition
- Dimensions
-
19.8 x 15.0 cm (image)
21.8 x 17.0 cm (plate)
45.9 x 34.2 cm (sheet) - Credit line
- David Murray Bequest Fund 1954
- Accession number
- 545G27
- Signature and date
- Signed in plate l.r. “WBlake invenit & sculpt”. Dated (incorrectly) in plate bot.c. “Published…March 8:1825(sic)…”.
- Catalogue raisonne
- Binyon 118; Bindman 638
- Media category
- Collection area
- British prints
-
Ex Libris: the printed image and the art of the book, 2010
The tale of Job is among the most moving stories depicted in the Bible; because of this, it has been of especial importance to many artists, none more so than to the British mystic, William Blake.
In the Biblical account, Satan taunts God with the suggestion that Job’s religious faith is dependent on his material wealth. Denying this, God allows Satan to test Job and a series of terrible torments ensue: his livestock are stolen, his children killed and Job himself is infected with deadly disease.
Plates eight and thirteen from Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job may be simpler, stylistically, than other illustrations from the series, but these plates portray the narrative’s most poignant moments. Job’s Despair renders the instant in which Job wishes to die and parts of his impassioned soliloquy, directed to God, appear at the edge of the engraving. Such terrible despair, however, disappears in The Lord Answering Job out of the Whirlwind. An image of intense beauty, God and Job come face to face within a whirlwind, delicately composed and ethereal in feeling. Job’s wonder is reinvigorated, his faith in God restored and thereafter, all his torments are reversed.
For Blake, the story of Job was not one in which God gambled with a man’s happiness. Rather, it was an allegory—entailing that one must place less significance on material possessions and more on spiritual experience—if in search of a genuine relationship with God.
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William Blake's Engravings: The Book of Job and Dante's The Divine Comedy
Art Gallery of South Australia, -
Ex Libris: The printed image and the art of the book
Art Gallery of South Australia, 13 April 2010 – 30 May 2010 -
Five Centuries of Genius: European Master Printmaking
Art Gallery of South Australia, 5 May 2000 – 2 October 2000
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[Book] Five Centuries of Genius: European Master Printmaking.
-
[Journal] Art Gallery of South Australia Newsletter.
Art Gallery of South Australia Newsletter Vol. 6, no. 16 (Sept. 1985)-v. 6, no. 54 (Mar. 1989)
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William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Behemoth and Leviathan
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G29 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job accepting charity
1823-26; published 1826engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 20153G19 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job accepting Charity
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G33 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job and his daughters
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G34 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job and his Family
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine-collé paperAccession no: 545G15 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job and his wife restored to Prosperity
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G35 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job rebuked by his friends
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G24 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job's comforters
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G21 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job's evil dreams
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G25 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Job's sacrifice
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G32 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Satan before the Throne of God
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G16 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Satan going forth from the presence of the Lord
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G19 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Satan smiting Job with boils
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G20 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The Creation
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G28 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The Destruction of Job's sons
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G17 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The fall of Satan
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G30 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G27 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The Messengers tell Job of his Misfortune
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G18 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The Vision of God
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G31 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
The wrath of Elihu
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G26 -
William Blake 28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827
Title page
1823-26; published 1874engraving on chine collé on paperAccession no: 545G14