Restrike from fragment of cancelled plate for "A Prophecy"

"Restrike from fragment of cancelled plate for 'A Prophecy'" by William Blake is a significant print impression created around 1793. The work exemplifies Blake’s unique mastery of the relief etching technique, which he famously developed to integrate his revolutionary poetry and complex visual imagery into integrated, 'illuminated' volumes. Originating from a British master working during the critical period spanning 1776 to 1800, this piece reflects the turbulent social and spiritual landscape of the early Romantic movement.

The classification of this piece as a restrike from a cancelled plate offers unique material insight into Blake's production methods. Restrikes are impressions taken long after the original edition run, often by later collectors or printmakers. More critically, a cancelled plate is one that has been deliberately defaced or marked, usually by incising harsh lines across the surface, to prevent the pulling of subsequent high-quality impressions. Despite or perhaps because of this damage, this fragment provides invaluable physical evidence regarding the technical process and material history of Blake’s original 1793 publication of A Prophecy.

Blake's innovative self-publishing system, centered on his developed method of relief etching, afforded him total control over the aesthetic and intellectual content of his output. The survival of this fragmentary evidence allows scholars to reconstruct and analyze the physical structure and working methods employed by the artist. As one of the most studied prints within his extensive body of graphic work, reproductions of this piece are often made available through major institution public domain initiatives, furthering research into the material culture of the period. This important example is housed within the collection of the National Gallery of Art, ensuring the sustained preservation and study of Blake's crucial contributions to prints and visual literature.