Job's Despair

"Job's Despair," by William Blake, created between 1825 and 1826, is a powerful example of the artist’s late mastery of the print medium. Classified as an engraving, this work is one plate from the artist’s renowned series illustrating the biblical Book of Job, a project considered the spiritual and technical zenith of his career. Blake utilized the demanding nature of the engraving process to achieve an angular precision and stark clarity, lending an immutable quality to the divine narrative unfolding on the page.

The composition centers on the moment of Job’s profound affliction. Blake renders the central figure of the afflicted Job and the surrounding men who counsel him with characteristic visionary intensity, emphasizing human vulnerability in the face of immense suffering. This powerful scene reflects the early nineteenth-century artist’s deep engagement with theology and myth, presenting the drama not as a historical event but as an eternal, symbolic struggle.

Created late in Blake’s life, this work reflects a mature aesthetic, where the precision of the engraved line contrasts sharply with the expansive, imaginative scope of the subject matter. The original engraving is currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, serving as a critical reference point for understanding Blake’s final illustrative achievements. As historic prints of this era, high-resolution scans are often categorized within the public domain, ensuring that this foundational piece of early Romantic art remains widely accessible for study and appreciation.