A Rolling Stone Is Ever Bare of Moss, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil"

A Rolling Stone Is Ever Bare of Moss, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil" by William Blake is a seminal example of British romantic printmaking, executed in 1821. This work is part of a series of twenty illustrations Blake created for Dr. Robert John Thornton’s third edition of The Pastorals of Virgil, a commission that allowed the artist to explore themes of rustic labor and classical poetry. The selection of wood engraving as the medium was pivotal, allowing Blake to achieve stark contrasts and robust textures unlike his previous metal etching techniques.

The composition depicts men working the land, highlighting the challenging and continuous nature of their tasks, central to the pastoral tradition implied by the proverb. Blake’s distinctive style transforms the dense medium of wood engraving, which was typically reserved for commercial reproduction, into a vehicle for profound artistic expression. While modest in scale, the work possesses a powerful, almost primitive energy, reflecting Blake’s deliberate rejection of polished academic standards in favor of raw expressive power. These original prints were highly influential on subsequent generations of illustrators.

Although the illustrations were initially criticized by some contemporaries for their seemingly crude execution, they are now regarded as masterpieces of Blake’s late career, particularly for their pioneering use of wood engraving. This specific print from 1821, A Rolling Stone Is Ever Bare of Moss, is often reproduced, and high-quality prints derived from the original plates are widely available through public domain archives. This impression resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it preserves the artistic and historical integrity of this crucial phase in William Blake’s career.