Image: William Blake The Ghost of Flea 1819-20 Tempera & gold on mahogany
Description: William Blake The Ghost of a Flea 1819-20 Tempera & gold on mahogany John Varley – an artist, astrologer and close friend of Blake – reported in his Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy (1828) that Blake once had a spiritual vision of a ghost of a flea and that ‘This spirit visited his imagination in such a figure as he never anticipated in an insect.’ While drawing the spirit it told the artist that all fleas were inhabited by the souls of men who were ‘by nature bloodthirsty to excess’. In the painting it holds a cup for blood-drinking and stares eagerly towards it. Blake’s amalgamation of man and beast suggests a human character marred by animalistic traits. William Blake (1757‑1827) The Ghost of a Flea c.1819-20 Tempera and gold on mahogany 214 x 162 mm frame: 382 x 324 x 50 mm Tate Bequeathed by W. Graham Robertson 1949 Reference N05889
Title: William Blake The Ghost of Flea 1819-20 Tempera & gold on mahogany
Credit: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-the-ghost-of-a-flea-n05889 and other
Author: William Blake
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No
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