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Source Description
This sketch of a shepherd sleeping with his dog at the edge of a precipice relates to one of the nearly 550 watercolors that William Blake created for the 1797 edition of Edward Young’s <em>The Complaint, and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts</em>, a long poem about death and salvation originally published in 1742–45<em>.</em> Blake worked extensively with books as an author and illustrator, and also engraved the work of others for publication. <em>Night Thoughts</em> was one of his most ambitious commercial projects. Unfortunately, only one of the four planned volumes was ever produced, since Richard Edwards, who had commissioned the work, closed his publishing business.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
113307
label
Sketch for "The Thought of Death alone, the Fear Destroys"
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
113307
contentType
drawing
title
Sketch for "The Thought of Death alone, the Fear Destroys"
description
This sketch of a shepherd sleeping with his dog at the edge of a precipice relates to one of the nearly 550 watercolors that William Blake created for the 1797 edition of Edward Young’s <em>The Complaint, and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts</em>, a long poem about death and salvation originally published in 1742–45<em>.</em> Blake worked extensively with books as an author and illustrator, and also engraved the work of others for publication. <em>Night Thoughts</em> was one of his most ambitious commercial projects. Unfortunately, only one of the four planned volumes was ever produced, since Richard Edwards, who had commissioned the work, closed his publishing business.
date
c. 1795
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80005842
creators
1257
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 17 x 30.8 cm (6 11/16 x 12 1/8 in.)
cul
England, 18th century
accession
1932.318
Source extras
tec
graphite on paper
tombstone
Sketch for "The Thought of Death alone, the Fear Destroys", c. 1795. William Blake (British, 1757–1827). Graphite on paper; sheet: 17 x 30.8 cm (6 11/16 x 12 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1932.318
collection
DR - British
creditline
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:57:47.095000
sourceId
113307
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
graphite on paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
b0b1e882d0389bf1