Discover historical illustrations by subject, artist and book.
Creation and rebellion in Blake’s illuminated plates.
Norwegian fairy tales illustrated by Kay Nielsen.
Four colour drawings from a 1908 Gnostic text.
From the dark wood to Paradise with Gustave Doré.
Ethelwynne Quail’s visions of the spirit world.
Art Deco studies of fear by John Vassos.
74 illustrations
A cloaked figure steps into a dark arched doorway with a bright lamp held low at his side.
A white-bearded figure folds its knees beneath an overhanging rock, the narrow shelter pressing closely around its back.
The raised hands, streaming beard and bent legs of the white-haired figure are crossed by dark horizontal bands.
Urizen sits with knees drawn up and heavy fetters around his ankles, while red and gold rays surround his closed eyes.
The figure turns its back to the viewer, raising both hands beside the head while long hair streams down around the body.
Pink and orange letters rise through curling stems and blue sky.
Large curling letters spread across a blue upper panel while small figures move among delicate branches.
A long-robed woman inclines towards a smaller figure beneath a curved willow.
A small child flies through a blue upper field towards a standing woman with open arms.
A seated woman bends over a small infant amid long curved stems and blue flowers.
A long serpent crosses a blue band at the foot of the page, carrying small figures along its curving body.
A seated or bending smith occupies a small anvil while an immense dark winged presence spreads over him.
An upside-down figure braces its hands on the rocky foreground while its torso curves against a dark mountain landscape.
Beneath the poem’s lettering, a figure crouches on bent knees with both arms drawn behind its head.
A figure pulls its knees towards its chest and clasps its hands behind its head within a field of sharp golden flames.
A figure presses its hands against its head while the beard and hair spread around a large dark globe.
Two standing figures lean closely together beneath an overhead web of dark branches.
A horizontal figure sweeps through streaming flames above three figures spread across the rocky lower scene.
Large flowing letters name America a Prophecy within a pale cloud-like opening.
A great winged figure bends forward with lowered head and arms held close to the body.
A great tree bends across the top and side of a block of handwritten verse.
Small airborne figures hover above and below a short block of verse.
A nude figure sits on a rocky ledge with head lifted towards a break in the clouds.
A long-bearded figure rises above the verse with both arms extended into curling clouds.
A human figure twists diagonally within a great curling field of flame.
A broad tree arches over several human figures beside a dark hollow.
A reclining muscular body lies beneath several figures who lean and reach over it.
An elongated dark figure descends diagonally through broad curling streams.
A central nude figure stands beneath a canopy formed by two great curved bodies or wings.
An immense human form stretches across the upper half of a dark page.
A pale figure with outstretched arms stands below a dark crucified body suspended among branches.
A pale figure leans backwards within a narrow crescent-like form while another reaches upward nearby.
Two figures embrace within a tall oval formed by sweeping flame-like lines.
Outstretched human forms converge around a great dark circle within a field of radiating lines.
A bearded figure crouches within a great golden circle and extends one arm towards the darkness below.
A long serpent coils across the pale page between the words Europe and Prophecy.
A dark-cloaked figure bends towards a smaller body beneath the heading Preludium.
Two pale women stand facing forward beneath the extended wings of a dark central figure.
A woman sits beside a blazing hearth while another figure crouches low in the foreground.
A dark-coated man carries a bell before a wall while a woman raises both arms beside him.
Two pale bodies lie closely together within a broad curling enclosure.
A red-robed figure sits behind an open book with a great dark wing spread to either side.
The title rises through a pale blue sky between branching forms.
An elongated figure moves through orange flames above the engraved prose.
An inverted body and an orange airborne figure turn around a blue curling form.
Three seated figures occupy a bright lower panel beside green curling vegetation.
Small bodies move across the top of the page while another rests beneath the final lines.
A long dark figure moves horizontally through orange and red flames above the prose.
48 of 74 shown