A compilation of important biographical writings on William Blake, a painter, printmaker, poet, and mystical thinker who became one of the leading figures of Romanticism.

William Blake (1757-1827) was a British painter, printmaker, poet, and mystical thinker who became one of the leading figures of Romanticism. This volume presents the earliest critical essay on his art by journalist and diarist Henry Crabb Robinson, reproduced here in full for the first time in English, as well as illuminating biographical texts by painter John Thomas Smith and writer Alexander Gilchrist. An introduction by Martin Myrone, lead curator of British art to 1800 at Tate, contextualizes these writings, which provide a rich, nuanced view of the life and inventive work of both "the historical Blake" and "the invented Blake"--the artist who today occupies a revered place in the pantheon of visionary artists.