Blake exhibit at Burlington Club

Blake at the Burlington Club.

Rossetti, William M. "Blake at the Burlington Club." Academy (March 11, 1876): 201. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Rossetti states the importance of the collection of Blake artwork displayed at the Burlington Club. He praises Blake's creative abilities in both verse and in art. He credits Blake with superior powers of imagination and invention, also noting that there may be found in his work an equal measure of defects, which Rossetti says we need not "here concern ourselves." Rather, he advises, we should take Blake in the context of his own broad talents and set the flaws aside.

Rossetti remarks that the catalogue is not yet finished for the exhibition, which detracts from the viewers' ability to fully comprehend the artist's intent and the meaning of his work. In a letter to Swinburne, Rossetti states it was William Bell-Scott "and his accomplice" that failed to finish the catalogue in time for the exhibition, but that the club secretary said the catalogue would be ready before the exhibit closed (Letters 337). In February of 1878, Rossetti credits Bell-Scott with completion of the etchings for release as a book.

Regardless, says Rossetti, anyone with a modicum of knowledge about Blake will "find an infinity of interesting matter for their contemplation."

He discusses various works in different media (e.g., water-colour, pencil, oil, etchings) plus their effectiveness as imagery conveying feeling. He closes with a brief biography of Blake's life, including Swinburne's volume of Blake which added to the work done by Gilchrist.

Bell-Scott, it should be noted, was considered to be one of Rossetti's circle of Cheyne Walk associates (Reminiscences 2:327).