Volume 16 · Issue 1

A CONCORDANCE BETWEEN WILLIAM ROSSETTI’S ANNOTATED LISTS, W. GRAHAM ROBERTSON’S SUPPLEMENTARY LIST, AND BUTLIN’S CATALOGUE NUMBERS

MARTIN BUTLIN

Table 1 shows the numbers of William Rossetti’s annotated lists of Blake’s paintings, drawings, and engravings as they appear in the 1863 and 1880 editions of Alexander Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake, together with the corresponding numbers in my catalogue of The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, 1981. Rossetti divided his lists into three: list 1, works in color; list 2, uncolored works; and list 3, works of unascertained method (whether colored or uncolored). Each has its own numerical sequence. In the Table the lists are given in numerical order as they appear in the 1863 and 1880 editions. In cases where the sequence of the 1863 and 1880 lists is not the same, the relevant number, if out of order, is given in italics, e.g. 135. Numbers in brackets refer to works mentioned by Rossetti under a number but not listed separately, i.e. [13a] and [13b] are works referred to under his no. 13. The third column gives the corresponding number in my catalogue of 1981. In the case of works drawn on both sides of the paper the reference is assumed to be to the recto unless otherwise stated; in cases where different numbers refer to recto and verso both are given.

Table 2 lists the items in the “supplementary list” added by W. Graham Robertson in his edition of Alexander Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake of 1907. Graham Robertson reproduced William Rossetti’s lists from the first, 1863 edition of Gilchrist’s Life with certain modifications and corrections. Most of these are minor, asterisks for works of “considerable size,” changes of media, and the addition of certain museums as current owners; conversely, the names of the mid-nineteenth century owners given by Rossetti are omitted (as indeed they were by Rossetti in his own revised 1880 lists). Under Rossetti’s no. 5, “A Breach in a City” (Butlin 188, ?189), he adds “There is another version of this design, larger in size and paler in colour. Reproduced at page 64” (this is the version in the Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Butlin 191). Graham Robertson corrects the medium of no. 6, “The Bard from Gray” (Butlin 160), to watercolor, mentions that this was the work exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785, and adds a reference to the tempera shown in Blake’s exhibition (Butlin 655). Under no. 179, “Satan Exulting Over Eve” (apparently the color print, Butlin 291), he “corrects” the medium from tempera to “Varnished begin page 13 | ↑ back to top water-colour” and adds, “A colour-print of this design was produced in 1795,” presumably the second version of the color print, dated 1795 (Butlin 292). To no. 199, “An Allegory of the Spiritual Condition of Man” (Butlin 673), Graham Robertson adds a descriptive footnote. In Rossetti’s list 2, Graham Robertson notes that nos. 67 and 88 (Butlin 639 and 641) are “inscribed respectively 1806 and 1807.” He also transcribes the inscription on the back of no. 88, “The Fall of Man.”

Graham Robertson’s supplementary list consists partly of works added by William Rossetti in his lists of 1880, partly of works transferred by Rossetti from his list 3, works of unascertained method, to his list 1, works in color, and partly of works newly discovered (or thought to be newly discovered) by himself.

Where in both these tables the number under Butlin 1981 is queried, or where more than one number is given, full explanations can be found in my catalogue entries. In the course of checking these tables I have found certain omissions or errors in my references to Rossetti’s lists in the sections on “Lit”:

Only two of these additions are of any great significance, those concerning Nos. 197A and 2612; the latter confirms that the work belonged to Mrs. Alexander Gilchrist in 1863. The other additions are more of interest from the point of view of Rossetti’s method, or lack of it. Neither William Rossetti nor W. Graham Robertson was infallible; but nor, no doubt, am I.

↤ ¹ Europe pl. 15; copy now in the Lockwood Memorial Library, State University of New York, Buffalo (see G. E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books, 1977, pp. 163-64, and Butlin 1981, no. 179).

↤ ² British Museum 1853.12.10.497. Despite being included in the Council of Europe’s exhibition The Age of Neo-Classicism, Royal Academy and Victoria and Albert Museum 1972 (513), this is not, in the compiler’s opinion, by Blake. ↤ ³ Europe pl. 8; copy now in National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (see Bentley ibid, p. 163). ↤ ⁴ This item is in fact a heading to Rossetti 1863 nos. 26a-60 (1880 nos. 31-65).

1 “The Penance of Jane Shore,” pen and watercolor, 24.5 × 29.5 cm.   Tate Gallery, London. Listed by Rossetti (1863 no. 1; 1880 no. 1) as painted 1778-79, the work exhibited in Blake’s exhibition of 1809 as “done above Thirty Years ago”; in fact this work must date, for stylistic reasons, to c. 1793, though there is an earlier, less accomplished version that can be dated c. 1779 (Butlin 1981, no. 67).

↤ ⁵ This item is a heading to Rossetti 1880 nos. 68-81.

2 “The Bard, from Gray,” tempera on canvas, 60 × 44.1 cm.   Tate Gallery, London. In 1863 Rossetti (no. 6) listed the tempera as the work exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785; in 1880 (no. 100) he correctly listed it as exhibited in Blake’s 1809 exhibition, distinguishing it from the lost watercolor exhibited in 1785 (again his no. 6).

3 “The Spiritual Form of Pitt guiding Behemoth,” tempera on canvas, 74 × 62.7 cm.   Tate Gallery, London. Although this belonged to Samuel Palmer it is missing from Rossetti’s 1863 lists; he did however add it in 1880 (no. 95). It is also included in W. Graham Robertson’s “Supplementary List” (works in color: poetical and miscellaneous no. 14).

4 “The Body of Abel found by Adam and Eve,” tempera on mahogany panel, 32.5 × 43.3 cm.   Tate Gallery, London. Listed by Rossetti (1863 no. 85; 1880 no. 102) as the work included in Blake’s 1809 exhibition and belonging, in 1863, to Capt. Butts; in fact Capt. Butts’ tempera can be dated c. 1826. The work exhibited in 1809 was almost certainly the watercolor from the Linnell collection now in the Fogg Museum (Butlin 1981 no. 664).

↤ ⁶ Bateson Collection; repr. Geoffrey Keynes Pencil Drawings by William Blake, 1927, pl. 35, but subsequently recognized as being by Edward Francis Burney (1760-1848). See Morse Peckham, “Blake, Milton, and Edward Burney,” Princeton University Chronicle, 11 (1950), 107-26, and Geoffrey Keynes, Blake’s Pencil Drawings; Second Series, 1956, vii-ix.

5 “Adam and Eve recumbent, hovered over by Angels,” pencil on paper, 37 × 50 cm.   Bateson Collection (at present on loan to the Fine Art Museum, San Francisco). Although listed by Rossetti (1863 list 2 no. 101; 1880 list 2 no. 129) as a genuine work, in possession of Alexander Gilchrist’s widow, this is now recognized as the work of Edward Francis Burney.

6 “Sketch for ‘Hecate,’” pencil and wash on paper, 24.2 × 27.8 cm.   Ian L. Phillips, London. An example of work missed by Rossetti but included in W. Graham Robertson’s “Supplementary List” (uncolored works no. 15).