A cannibal apocalypse: the sub-human depravity attributed to the French 'sansculottes' (revolutionaries) is manifested in a scene of bestial consumption. Men, women and children chomp down on human limbs and organs. More bodyparts decorate the rafters, and through the open door are signs of further carnage. The print amplifies news of massacres in Revolutionary France. Reports condemning these would often refer to the revolutionaries as 'cannibals'.

The subject is taken from John Milton's epic retelling of the Biblical narrative, Paradise Lost (1667). Fuseli represents the vision of the horrid future of mankind, in suffering, madness and disease. Over the heads of humanity the figure of Death, dart in hand, looms, arms outstretched. This unfinished drawing relates to the huge (3 x 4 metres) canvas on this subject exhibited at Fuseli's one man show, The Milton Gallery, in 1799.

This is a study of the vision of the plague-house shown to Adam in Milton's Paradise Lost (1667). Blake developed the composition with a large handcoloured print, around 1795. The stylised figures are reminiscent of medieval sculpture, which Blake had studied in his youth. The right-hand side of this drawing shows where the sheet was damaged and repaired early in the twentieth century.

The subject is taken from Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667), Book X. In a vision presented to Adam, Death hovers over a plague-house, dart in hand, teasing his victims with the promise of eternal sleep but letting them suffer further. The subject is the same as in Fuseli's acclaimed painting, recorded by a drawing shown nearby. Blake's composition is, though, much more economical and more stylised.

The prison reformer John Howard (1726-1790) is shown looking in horror upon a scene of human devastation inside a plague-house. Howard was a wealthy gentleman who pioneered the prison reform movement. His heroic efforts won him public admiration, and his death triggered an outpouring of poems, prints and proposals for a public monument. Romney executed a huge number of drawings relating to this theme, often distorting his figures for expressive effect.

A view of a community torn apart by disease; a husband holds the lifeless body of his wife, their dead child on her lap; a daughter or wife, horrified, looks upon the body of a loved one carried on a stretcher. Blake first drew this scene around 1779, when it may have been intended to refer to the historical plague of 1665. He returned to this composition many times in his life, making the scene more generalised. This is the last of the series.

This is a Biblical allegory derived from Exodus, Chapter 12. The gigantic figure of Pestilence strides over Egypt, spreading the contagion that will claim the lives of all the firstborn. To the left and right, his victims are in despair. Beneath his feet, a woman mourns her dead child. The angel standing in the doorway presumably embodies Moses’ promise of protection to the Jews who marked their doorframes with the blood of the lamb.

Pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white, on paper The image is based on Revelation, Chapter 6, verses 2-6, where four horsemen herald the end of the world (or Apocalypse). The dominant figure at the centre, clutching lightning-bolts, is Death. West's patron, William Beckford wrote in 1810: 'For the future I discover only phantasms...It will be West's Apocalypse, his Triumph of Death, painted in the same terrible colours, a mingling of mire and blood'.

The prime minister, William Pitt (1759- 1806), is shown riding a powerful white horse - heralding the end of the world. The monkey seated behind Pitt is the Prince of Wales. Pitt's political followers trail behind him.

This painting illustrates Revelation, Chapter 6, showing two of the apocalyptic riders revealed in a vision to St John. The first, on a white horse, 'had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer'. The second, on a red horse, has ‘a great sword'. The painting was created for Thomas Macklin's 'Bible Gallery' a commercial gallery featuring paintings of Biblical subjects that were subsequently engraved.

This watercolour represents the vision at the opening of the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation. Blake has painted the final rider to appear to St John, Death, on a pale horse. The feathers above this figure are probably meant as an image of divine protection. The figure at the bottom must be the third rider, on a black horse, spreading famine, or the personification of Hell, spreading pestilence.

At the beginning of Revelation, St John describes being struck down 'as if dead' by the vision of a white-clad Christ in the midst of seven golden candles. Fuseli's painting plays on the contrast between the heavy, material body of the long-limbed St John, and the supreme grace of the deity. The low viewpoint, and the high-waisted costume of Christ (perhaps suggestive of contemporary female costumes) further enhances this effect.

This is a complex Biblical allegory derived from the prophetic Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. The tiny figure at the bottom is Ezekiel, looking in awe as a whirlwind delivers the vision of a man with four faces and four wings. As the vision unfolds, Ezekiel witnesses a wheel 'full of eyes', hears the voice of God, and sees 'the likeness of a throne' and the 'likeness of a man' - a vision of 'the glory of the LORD'.

This Biblical illustration alludes to lines in the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 28. Blake represents Satan in his former glorious state, standing on the 'mountain of God'. The tiny, joyous figures embody the precious stones and beautifully crafted musical instruments mentioned in the Biblical text.

Gillray's satirical print presents James Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale (1726-1802) as the character of Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost (1667). Lonsdale was a notoriously cruel landowner. The figure cowering to the left is the satirical poet James Wolcot (1738-1819) who published as 'Peter Pindar'. He had dared to criticise the Earl. On the right is Lowther's lawyer with snakes instead of legs, like the figure of Sin in Milton's poem.

Blake's Bible illustrations are often hard to interpret. This design alludes to passages in the Book of Psalms, but its exact subject is uncertain. The bearded figure floating on his back in the sea is probably the prophet David, being visited by a vision of Christ and winged 'cherubim' who offer him salvation.

God appears as a mighty vision, writing out the laws of the ten commandments. The prophet Moses is at the bottom of the composition. Blake thought the laws laid out in the Old Testament were too rigid. Here it may be important that Moses is a tiny, cowering figure, who can see only the back of the deity. The implication is that prophet has only an incomplete sense of the divine.

This watercolour evokes imagery from the Book of Revelation, Chapters 4 and 5. St John witnesses the glorious vision God, surrounded by a rainbow. Around his throne are twenty-four elders dressed in white and 'four beasts full of eyes before and behind'. The deity holds 'a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals'.

Gillray made drawings and notes like this in prepration for his caricatures. This is the study for a print published as 'A Peep into the Cave of Jacobinism', shown nearby. Although the overall design is quite resolved, we can see Gillray scribbing notes and ideas frantically. We can read several alternative titles, including: 'Peep into the Cave of Deceit'; 'Cave of Sedition'; 'Truth trampling over Opposition'.

This was the frontispiece for the first volume of the reactionary magazine, The Anti-Jacobin Magazine and Review, published in 1798. The figure of Truth holds up a torch, which illuminates the dark cave of political sedition. The pamphlets strewn on the ground read 'Libels', 'Defamation', 'Sedition', 'Ignorance', 'Anarchy' and 'Atheism' - the leading themes of revolutionary politics according to conservatives.

A monstrous infant, representing the creed of Jacobinism (revolutionary democracy), is shown receiving his education at the knee of the philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778). The spectral figures around them embody the various sins and misunderstandings that are being instilled into the youth. This sketchy oil painting was done in prepration for an illustration to the 'Ode to Jacobinism', an anonymous poem first issued in The Anti-Jacobin.

The retired opposition politician Charles James Fox (1749-1806) is haunted by a nightmarish vision of Alecto, one of the monstrous furies. She leads the radical journalist and politician John Horne Tooke (1726-1812) and instructs Fox to give him lessons in sedition. The point of the satire is to besmirch the name of Fox, placing him as the progenitor of the revolutionary thought of the 1790s.

The war minister William Windham (1750-1810) is shown in bed, sleepless, and surrounded by the terrible parade of monstrosity and perversion which he feared would accompany the proposed peace with France. To the left, a skeleton on stilts straddles a pile of discarded British trophies, wearing the revolutionary bonnet rouge. In the background, we can see St Paul's Catherdral in flames and Britannia in chains.

In an extravagant cosmological phantasmagoria, the Foreign Secretary, George Canning (1770-1827), is cast as Phaeton, recklessly driving a chariot across the sky and causing chaos in the constellations. The signs of the Zodiac represent Canning's various political opponents and emblems of the troubled times. To the bottom left, the ghost of Canning's mentor, Pitt, looks on mournfully.

In an overblown scene of biblical spectacle, the late prime minister William Pitt (1759-1806) is the prophet Elijah, ascending to heaven. As he flings his cloak away, his political followers reach up to catch the garment. On the right, Pitt's opponents are cast as the pagan followers of Baal. The demonic spectre of Pitt's rival, Charles James Fox, spreads out his dark cloak in an effort to protect them.

Napoleon is ironically cast as a Christian pilgrim, from John Bunyan's Protestant epic, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678). He is assailed by various animals and monsters, representing his enemies. The British lion is on the attack, along with the Portuguese wolf and a Sicilian terrier dog. France's ally, Russia, is the bear who lumbers behind Napoleon.

This is an allegory of the war with France. The great naval commander Nelson (1758-1805) is shown as a smooth-limbed, classical god, directing the Biblical monster Leviathan. Blake had a complex attitude to the war. Leviathan is a horrible, scaly creature; yet its master, Nelson, appears a heroic figure.

This is a companion to Blake's allegorical painting of Nelson. Here, the prime minister William Pitt (1759-1806) is shown as a Christ-like figure, guiding the biblical monster Behemoth, and giving directions to the Reaper and the Plowman. He is surrounded by scenes of terror and violence.