The Blake Book Tate Essential Artists Series

In a career that spanned a turbulent era in European history, William Blake (1757–1827) produced one of the most celebrated and intense bodies of works in the history of art. Neglected and misunderstood in his lifetime, his extraordinary paintings, poetry, and prints now enjoy an international reputation. Technically innovative, strikingly original, and high personal in their symbolism, his images are both powerfully immediate in their effects and challenging in their complexity. His visual interpretations of the Bible and the poetry of Milton and Dante demonstrate a fervid invention and a searching intellect that have entranced generations of admirers.

Martin Myrone is a curator at Tate Britain, specialising in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British art.