Job and His Family

Job and His Family is a key engraving executed by William Blake in 1825. This work, printed on thin paper, forms part of a seminal portfolio of illustrations based on the Old Testament Book of Job, widely considered the pinnacle of the British artist’s graphic achievement. The portfolio, commissioned by the painter and patron John Linnell, consists of twenty-one plates meticulously rendered using the demanding technique of engraving, allowing Blake to achieve extraordinary linear precision and profound symbolic density.

Blake, working in the final years of the period 1801 to 1825, used this religious subject to explore fundamental Romantic themes of spiritual struggle, divine justice, and the ultimate restoration of faith. This specific plate captures Job and his family in their state of initial prosperity and righteousness before their trials begin. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Blake was a deeply spiritual artist whose visualizations filtered conventional biblical imagery through his unique, highly personal mythology, resulting in compositions that are both traditional in subject and visionary in execution.

The meticulous detail and highly original compositions ensured the wide circulation and enduring influence of these prints among collectors and fellow artists. Blake’s masterful control of light and shadow reinforces the narrative's emotional weight, utilizing the black-and-white medium to convey the full spectrum of the story's dramatic arc. Today, this historically significant image is frequently encountered in the public domain, ensuring global access for scholars and admirers of Blake’s oeuvre. This important example of the artist's mature engraving style is preserved in the comprehensive collection of the National Gallery of Art.