Edward Calvert

The Sheep of his Pasture

c.1828

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Edward Calvert 1799–1883
Medium: Line engraving on paper
Dimensions: Image: 41 × 76 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by S. Calvert 1912
Reference: A00158

Display caption

This engraving dates from 1828, the year after Blake died. Blake inspired a relatively small number of artists, but there are few works whose subject and composition owe such a direct debt to his work as this print. Its links with the eighth of Blake's wood engravings for Thornton's 'Virgil' show that The Sheep of his Pasture is almost as an act of homage to Blake. Calvert was well aware of the pastoral ideal in Virgil's writing. Here Calvert presents a wider vision of what he described as 'that serene kingdom, teeming with the good and the true and the beautiful.'

Gallery label, August 2004

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