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The Holy Family (Christ in the Lap of Truth)
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Although he rejected institutionalized religion, Blake was intensely spiritual, and much of his art was inspired by a highly personal reading of the Bible or by literature based upon it, such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667). The Virgin Mary is centered in this highly stylized composition. Upon her lap she clasps the infant Christ whose outstretched arms foreshadow the Crucifixion. The Mother and Child are flanked by Saint Joseph on the left, and Saint Anne (the Virgin’s mother), on the right. Below, Saint John the Baptist, who foretold Christ’s death and resurrection, plays with a lamb.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Holy Family (Christ in the Lap of Truth), c. 1805. William Blake (British, 1757–1827). Black, gray, and brown ink applied with pen and point of brush; gray, pink, yellow, and green wash; sheet: 37.9 x 32.5 cm (14 15/16 x 12 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1950.239
