Songs of Experience: A Little Girl Lost

Songs of Experience: A Little Girl Lost by William Blake was created between 1794 and 1825 as part of his illuminated books, a self-published series where the artist acted as designer, engraver, printer, and colorist. This complex piece is classified as a print, utilizing the demanding technique of relief etching, which Blake largely innovated to fuse his text and visuals. Blake printed the image in orange-brown ink before meticulously finishing it by hand. The addition of vibrant watercolors and the luminous touch of shell gold elevates the print beyond a simple reproduction, creating a unique, highly finished impression that varies across the surviving copies of his volumes.

This specific illustration directly visualizes the poem that shares its title, found within Blake’s profoundly influential collection, Songs of Experience. The Songs contrast the state of corrupted societal knowledge with the earlier, purer vision captured in Songs of Innocence. Blake’s visual interpretation of his poetry often employs symbolic figures and natural settings to explore themes of spiritual wandering and loss. The composition shows the central figures set against a dark, nocturnal background, reflecting the poem's narrative of children lost in a dangerous landscape who require divine intervention for rescue.

As an original print, this impression showcases the varying degrees of customization Blake applied to each copy of his illuminated volumes over decades. These unique, hand-colored prints are central to understanding the artist's integrated vision of literature and visual art from the Romantic era. The original object resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Facsimiles of this iconic artwork frequently enter the public domain, allowing broader access to Blake’s revolutionary literary and artistic achievements.