Menalcus Watching Women Dance, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil"

Menalcus Watching Women Dance, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil" is a remarkable wood engraving created by William Blake in 1821. This work originated as an illustration for Dr. Robert John Thornton's third edition of The Pastorals of Virgil, a commission that allowed the aging artist to explore classical themes through a profoundly personal and intense artistic vision. Though the unusual, simplified style of these prints was initially criticized by contemporaries, they are now regarded as masterpieces of British Romantic-era printmaking and highly influential examples of the wood engraving medium.

Blake’s composition focuses on the central figure of Menalcus, a male character from Virgil’s Eclogues, observing a group of women engaged in exuberant, stylized dancing. The rustic, pastoral scene captures a sense of timeless revelry. Musicians are positioned prominently within the scene, ensuring the continuation of the rhythmic celebration with their various musical instruments. The intense contrasts and deliberate roughness achieved through the wood engraving technique lend the work a powerful, elemental quality, emphasizing the simplicity and energy of the movement.

This piece represents Blake's late-career engagement with the potential of relief printing, moving away from traditional copperplate methods toward the textural, often archaic aesthetic of the wooden block. The small scale and concentrated intensity of Menalcus Watching Women Dance make it a pivotal work in the history of illustration. This significant example of early nineteenth-century British prints is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.