The Ancient Of Days (Illustration From "Europe a Prophecy" Copy B), 1795 - Canvas Print

William Blake - a painter, engraver and English poet - was an artist of mystical prophecies and acute political understanding. His work contains one of the few original mythologies of modern times. The great human problems - separation, evil, and salvation - are addressed in his works through a sometimes-complex anthropomorphic symbolism. The iconography and lingering presence of Christianity is an essential ingredient in his works but it also reflects the mystical yearnings of faiths considered in his day to be heretical. As such Blake became renowned as a visionary artist who propelled interest in the prophetic role of poetry. Rather than allowing himself to settle for the symbols provided for him by his culture, he invented new ones to meet his mystical inspirations, creating a new mythology built according to Sumerian and ancient legends. An avid supporter of the power of the imagination, visions, and hallucinations, his strange and mysterious illustrations are avatars of his passionate humanism with which he proclaimed the sacred value of creative energy. His 1794 illustration "Ancient of Days" was originally published as the front cover of his work of the same year, entitled 'Europe, a Prophecy'. It portrays the protagonist of the poem, Urizen, holding a compass across the darkness of the world below. Blake entered the heavenly man in a circle in the middle of the clouds, measuring the cosmic universe with a mathematical tool. Some see the representation as an encapsulation of the "Great Architect of the Universe." One of Blake's most famous illustrations, and the artist's personal favorite, "Ancient of Days" is a stunning work of poetic mysticism.