Uriah and Bathsheba

Maker William Blake (British, 1757 - 1827)

Additional Title(s)

Visionary heads [no. 7 of 9]

Collections

William Blake Collection

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Dateca. 1819-1820

Mediumpencil on wove paper

Dimensionsleft image (Uriah): 5 7/8 x 4 13/16 in. (15 x 12.2 cm.) right image (Bathsheba): 6 11/16 x 4 1/8 in. (17 x 10.4 cm.) sheet: 8 x 12 13/16 in. (20.3 x 32.6 cm.)

DescriptionTwo profiles on one sheet. Rossetti 1863, 244, described Blake's Uriah as "a heavy, stupid man, with a huge cerebellum and enormous bull-neck," and Bathsheba as "sweet, soft, yielding, witty." The story of Uriah, his wife Bathsheba, and King David is told in II Samuel 11. The woman's face in Blake's tempera painting of ca. 1799-1800, "Bathsheba at the Bath" (Tate Gallery; Butlin 1981, No. 498) is of the same general type as her visionary portrait, but neither rendering shows clearly individualized features. Blake also drew a visionary head of "David"-apparently the Biblical king as a rather feminine youth (collection of F. Bailey Vanderhoef, Jr., Ojai, California; Butlin 1981, No. 698).

InscribedInscribed in lower left in pencil by Varley: Uriah the Husband / of Bathsheba [written lightly then reinforced with pencil] Inscribed in lower left of the right image: Bathsheba [written lightly then reinforced with pencil] Inscribed in lower left in pencil: 7 [sideways] Inscribed below the drawing on the mount: VISIONARY HEADS OF BATHSHEBA AND URIAH, THE HUSBAND OF BATHSHEBA [followed by a quotation from "Gilchrist"]

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextLike Solomon (adjacent), this is another of Blake's "Visionary Heads." King David, desiring to marry the beautiful Bathsheba, sent her husband Uriah into a battle in which he was killed (see II Samuel 11-12).

Status

Not on view

Object number000.53

Terms