Biography

William Blake was born on November 28, 1757 in London England. He was the third son of Catherine (1723-1792) and James Blake (c.1723-1784). After learning to read and write, he left school at the age of ten with his mother continuing his education at home. The same year, his parents enrolled him in drawing classes at Par’s drawing school.

In 1772, Blake was apprenticed to engraver James Basire for seven years. James Basire was the official engraver to the Society of Antiquities. Blake became a student at the Royal Academy in 1779 but did not stay long. He felt that the atmosphere at the Royal Academy was too restrictive.

In 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher (1762-1831) who was five years his junior. The couple were devoted but remained childless. Blake taught his illiterate wife to read and write and trained her as an engraver. She was very supportive notably for keeping him in good spirits and helping to print his illuminated works.

Blake's first collection of poems, Poetical Sketches, was printed around 1783. In 1788, Blake experimented with relief etching also known as illuminated printing. He used this method to produce most of his books, paintings, pamphlets and poems. Relief etching eventually became an important commercial printing method.

In 1800, Blake and Catherine moved to Felpham to take a job illustrating the works of poet William Hayley. In 1803, Blake was involved in a physical altercation with a soldier named John Schofield. He was charged with assault and uttering treasonable remarks against the King. He was later acquitted.

Blake returned to London in 1804 where he began to write and illustrate Jerusalem (1804-20). In 1826, he was commissioned to work on Dante’s Divine Comedy by his patron John Lindell. He worked on this project until the day of his death on August 12, 1827.

He was buried in an unmarked grave in the Non-Conformist Bunhill Fields in London. In 1957 a memorial to William and Catherine was erected in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey, London.