William Blake: Illustrations to Milton's "Paradise Lost", object 6 (Butlin 536.6) "Raphael Warns Adam and Eve" Work Information

Title: Illustrations to Milton's "Paradise Lost," The Butts Set Origination: William Blake: inventor, delineator, colorist Composition Date: 1808 Note: The date of composition is established by the inscribed date on objects 1, 3-10, and 12. There is a slight possibility, however, that the second design, "Satan, Sin, and Death: Satan Comes to the Gates of Hell," was executed as an independent composition c. 1806 (see the Editors' Notes, object 2). Number of Objects: 12 Object Order: 1-12 Object Size: ranging between 49.1 cm. x 38.1 cm. and 51.8 cm. x 40.3 cm. Number of Leaves: 12 Leaf Size: ranging between 49.1 cm. x 38.1 cm. and 51.8 cm. x 40.3 cm. Medium: pen and water color Note: Object 2 includes touches of liquified gold. Support: wove paper Watermark: none visible Note: Most of the designs are pasted to backing mats. Penned Numbers: none Frame Lines: none Provenance

Name: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (objects 3-9, 11, 12), Victoria and Albert Museum (object 1), Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery (object 2), Houghton Library (object 10). Date: Objects 3-9, 11, and 12 acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1890; object 1 acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1869; object 2 acquired by the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery in 1916; object 10 acquired by the Houghton Library in 1966. Dealer: Various; see the note on provenance below. Price: Various; see the note on provenance below. Note: Acquired directly from Blake, and probably commission, by Thomas Butts; by inheritance to his son, Thomas Butts, Jr., in 1845 and by him dispersed. Objects 1-4, 10, 11 offered at Sotheby's, 26 June 1852, in separate lots, as follows: lot 177 (object 10, £1.7s. to "Fuller," probably the dealer Joseph or Samuel Fuller), lot 178 (object 3, 17s. to "Butts," indicating that the lot was bought-in if Thomas Butts, Jr. was the vendor), lot 179 (object 4, 10s. to "Butts," probably indicating that the lot was bought-in), lot 180 (object 1, £1.11s. to "Fuller"), lot 181 (object 11, 10s. to "Butts," probably indicating that the lot was bought-in), lot 182 (object 2, £1.11s. to "Fuller"). Objects 3-9, 11, and 12 sold from the collection of Thomas Butts, Jr., Foster and Son auction, London, 29 June 1853, lot 139, titled "Nine from Milton" (£17.6s.6d. to John Clark Strange); acquired at an unrecorded time (probably shortly before August 1883) by the dealer Bernard Quaritch, offered in his catalogue 350 of August 1883, in item 13,842, with 23 other works by Blake in three volumes (£1,200), in the same group at the same price in Quaritch's advertising flyer of William Blake's Original Drawings of May 1885 and Nov. 1886, and in Quaritch's General Catalogue of Books of 1887, item 13,842, in the same group (£1,200); offered in Quaritch's 1890 Hand-List of a Peerless Collection of Books and Manuscripts Exhibited to the Bibliophiles of America, item 156, in the same group, including the Butts set of Blake's Comus illustrations (Butlin 528) and a group of 9 of Blake's drawings illustrating the Bible ($5000); this same group of 32 works in three volumes acquired in 1890 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the gift of Mrs. John L. Gardner and George N. Black. Object 1 still in Fuller's possession in 1863; H. A. J. Munro, sold from his collection, Sotheby's, 24 April 1868, lot 501 (£3.10s. to the dealer P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.); sold 1869 to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Object 2 still in Fuller's possession in 1863; H. A. J. Munro, sold from his collection, Sotheby's, 24 April 1868, lot 500 (£3.12s. to "Cuff," probably R. P. Cuff [or "Cuffe"]); in Cuff's possession in 1876; Charles De C. Cuff before 1907; sold anonymously, Christie's, 19 July 1907, lot 46 (£99.15s. to the dealer Frank T. Sabin); sold by The Rosenbach Company in October 1916 to Henry E. Huntington, with the illustrations to Milton's "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" ($10,000, according to Rosenbach's receipt in the Huntington archives). Object 10 still in Fuller's possession in 1863; H. A. J. Munro, sold from his collection, Sotheby's, 24 April 1868, lot 502 (£10 to "Kibble," possibly a dealer); Marsden J. Perry at an unrecorded time; sold by Perry in 1908 to William A. White; probably by inheritance to Harold T. White; given to the Houghton Library in 1966 by John H. and Harold T. White. Present Location

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Avenue of the Arts 465 Huntington Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5597 Telephone: 1-617-267-9300 URL: http://www.mfa.org/ Telephone, Digital Image Resources: 1-617-369-4339 Fax, Digital Image Resources: 1-617-437-7471 Email, Digital Image Resources: mfaimages@mfa.org Department: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Accession Number: 90.94-102 (objects 3-9, 11, 12)

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