A Family in New South Wales

William Blake

1792

Copper plate engraving

Height 10” Width 8 3/4” including archival frame

Provenance: Richard Kelton, Marina Del Rey, CA

Important engraving by William Blake, poet and engraver from a sketch made by Philip Gidley King.

As Bernard Smith states in his European Vision of the Pacific, “there is no finer pictorial expression of the idea of the noble savage in visual art than Blake’s engraving”.

From Hunter, An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island.

Collections:

National Gallery Victoria: Accession Number P8-1984

National Gallery Australia: Accession Number: 84.1360

National Museum of Australia: 2014.0058.0001

National Library Australia: Bib ID 562476

William Blake (1757 - 1827)

Engraver, poet, painter and mystic, Blake entered Par's Drawing School at the age of 10 and was writing poetry at 14. He was apprenticed to James Basire and from that date on, he was engaged in commercial engraving to supplement his meagre income. A rare and important Australian image, by one of the great artists of the nineteenth century.

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