Job's Sons and Daughters Overwhelmed by Satan

"Job's Sons and Daughters Overwhelmed by Satan" is an expressive work created by William Blake in 1825. This powerful engraving on thin paper is one of the celebrated plates from Blake's late career masterpiece, his illustrated edition of the Book of Job, a narrative that profoundly explores themes of suffering, faith, and divine justice. The scene captures the dramatic and catastrophic moment when the children of Job are killed, an action instigated by Satan to test Job’s fidelity to God.

Produced late in the artist's life, this piece exemplifies the artistic currents of the British period spanning 1801 to 1825, a time characterized by spiritual intensity and the decline of Neoclassical restraints. Blake, a central figure in British Romanticism, utilized the demanding medium of engraving to imbue his biblical illustrations with intense emotional and graphic weight. The fine lines and deep shadows achievable through this technique amplify the terror and sorrow of the calamity, contrasting the vulnerability of the figures with the terrifying power of the divine or satanic intervention.

Blake interprets the scripture not just as historical event but as a symbolic spiritual struggle. Unlike contemporaries who might emphasize the physical destruction, Blake focuses on the spiritual and psychological horror of the overwhelming force. The figures are stylized, dynamically posed, and often elongated, pushing the boundaries of traditional representation to convey transcendent experience, a key characteristic of Blake’s unique visual mythology.

This particular impression of the work, categorized as a portfolio item, resides in the prestigious collection of the National Gallery of Art. Due to the historical nature of the original plates, various high-quality prints of this important piece are now widely accessible, often distributed through public domain repositories for study and research.