The Fall of Satan

The Fall of Satan by William Blake, executed in 1825, exemplifies the artist’s mastery of graphic technique during the later period of his career. Classified as a portfolio piece, the image was produced as an intricate engraving on thick paper. Blake, a prolific British poet, illustrator, and visionary, primarily earned his living through commercial printmaking, and this work demonstrates his characteristic dramatic tension and unique approach to religious subject matter. The year of completion places this engraving firmly within the 1801 to 1825 period, a crucial time when Blake was deeply focused on illustrating monumental literary and Biblical narratives.

This specific print, characterized by Blake’s intense linear precision, visually interprets the pivotal moment of spiritual judgment. Drawing heavily on his esoteric interpretations of scripture and often reflecting imagery found in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Blake renders the catastrophic spiritual descent with stark contrasts typical of his late visionary style. The scene likely captures the moment of the Angelic rebellion and the expulsion from Heaven, realized not as a conventional landscape but as an abstract field of energy and collapsing forms. This intensity and profound symbolism inherent in the imagery reflect the wider intellectual and spiritual currents defining British Romanticism of the time.

The enduring technical skill demonstrated in the piece confirms Blake’s status as a preeminent printmaker of the era. While the work functions effectively as a singular image, its classification as part of a portfolio suggests it was likely intended either for an illustrated volume or as a sequence of related plates, consistent with Blake’s established working methods. This important example of Blake's mature output resides in the esteemed collection of the National Gallery of Art. Because of its age and cultural importance, high-resolution prints and related visual materials of this historical artwork often enter the public domain, ensuring global accessibility to the genius of this master of engraving.