Queen Eleanor

Maker William Blake (British, 1757 - 1827)

Additional Title(s)

Visionary heads [no. 3 of 9]

Collections

William Blake Collection

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Dateca. 1819-20

Mediumpencil on wove paper

Dimensions7 1/4 x 6 1/16 in. (18.4 x 15.4 cm.) sheet: 7 3/4 x 6 1/8 in. (19.7 x 15.5 cm.)

DescriptionThis drawing of a crowned and noble-looking woman, her eyes turned upward, is presumably the "Visionary Head" described by Rossetti in 1863 and 1880 as "Queen Eleanor. Handsome: not very interesting" and sold under the same titles in the Linnell auction at Christie's in 1918. There are two queens of that name important in English history: Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122?-1204), wife of Henry II; and Eleanor of Castile (died 1290), wife of Edward I. In 1783, Blake engraved a plate after Thomas Stothard, "The Fall of Rosamond," which pictures the first of these queens. In about 1815, Blake executed a pencil sketch, apparently of the same subject although differing in design (George Goyder collection; Butlin 1981, No. 607). In at least one passage in Jerusalem (ca. 1804-20), Blake alludes to the subject of these designs and the play-Thomas Hull's Henry the Second-illustrated by the engraving. [1] Finally, the Blake-Varley sketchbook includes a drawing of "Falconbridge Taking Leave of King John and Queen Eleanor" (Private collection, Great Britain; Butlin 1981, No. 692-.57). But Blake's pictorial works indicate an equal interest in Eleanor of Castile. While an apprentice, ca. 1774, Blake copied her head and shoulders from Eleanor's tomb effigy in Westminister Abbey (Bodleian Library; Butlin 1981, No. 25), and may have had a hand in its engraving for Richard Gough, Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain (1786), 1:Pl. XXIII*. The long, flowing hair in this portrait offers the only distinctive similarity between the "Visionary Head" and any of the other designs noted here. In 1793, Blake designed and engraved a large plate of "Edward and Eleanor" (1793), showing the Queen saving her husband's life by sucking the poison from his wound. For other visionary heads related to this legendary incident, see the sixth Huntington drawing, below. There is a counterproof of the drawing in a Swiss private collection (Butlin 1981, No. 727) inscribed "Queen Eleanor" in a hand which can not be identified with Blake's, Varley's, or Linnell's. Notes 1. Pl. 57, Lines 8-9; see also Pl. 63, lines 39-40 (Blake 1982, 207, 214-15).

InscribedInscribed in lower left in pencil: (3) Inscribed in lower right in pencil: 11 Inscribed below drawing on the mount : VISIONARY HEAD OF QUEEN ELEANOR

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Object number000.46

Terms