William Blake was born on November 28th, 1757 in Soho, London. He was the son of James Blake and Catherine Blake. His father was a hosier while his mom was a stay at home mom. He had 7 siblings, although 2 of them died in infancy.
In his early life William went to school until the age of 10, and then decided to stay at home and have his mom teach him the rest of his schooling. He later on took drawing classes.
William Blake dabbled in poetry, visual arts, and engraving. His main medium was watercolors. He was in the romanticism era during the prime of his career. Some of his most famous work was The Angels Hovering Over the Body of Christ in the Sepulcher, The Ancient of Days, Adam Naming the Beasts. My favorite are the Pity which is of an angel on a Pegasus holding a baby looking over a lady. My second favorite is The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne which is of a rainbow and ghosts with god.
Throughout his career he faced many challenges one of which was that he though he saw gods head in the window, he had trouble dealing with authority, and he was cheated out of a deal with Stothard. In the world The Revolutionary War in the US was going on, Britain and the Netherlands signed a peace treaty, London Regent's canal opened, Antarctica was sighted, and NY stock exchange was founded.
I always think of William Blake as a poet--this was interesting to me. I learned something!
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