Sabrina's Silvery Flood, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil"

Sabrina's Silvery Flood, from Thornton's "Pastorals of Virgil," is a poignant wood engraving created by William Blake in 1821. This small but powerful work is one of seventeen illustrations Blake produced for Dr. Robert John Thornton’s school edition of Virgil’s Pastorals. The commission marked a significant engagement with classical literature late in the artist’s career, and although the illustrations initially confounded the expectations of traditional commercial publishing, they are now regarded as masterworks of English Romantic printmaking.

Executed in its second state, the technical precision required for this miniature piece of wood engraving is profound. Blake leveraged the challenging medium to capture the elemental drama implied by the title. The composition centers on the depiction of the mythological nymph Sabrina and the destructive force she embodies, rendered through delicate lines that convey the sense of flowing water or the 'silvery flood.' Blake's highly stylized approach emphasizes mood and symbolic narrative over strict realism, resulting in powerful imagery that evokes the raw, natural force associated with sudden, overwhelming floods. The expressive depth contained within these prints influenced generations of subsequent British illustrators.

Created just three years before Blake’s death, the Virgil series represents the culmination of his graphic output. The unique, rough-hewn aesthetic of the engravings, which stood in stark contrast to the smoother conventions of commercial prints of the era, underscores Blake's idiosyncratic artistic vision. This specific print is housed within the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s extensive collection of the artist’s graphic work. Due to the historical and artistic significance of the complete series, high-resolution images of this pivotal wood engraving are frequently made available for study through public domain art initiatives.