Artwork Details
14-5/16 x 31-7/16 in.
Accession NumberGift of William George Sullivan
CopyrightPrints, Drawings, and Photographs
Color PaletteWilliam George Sullivan; donated to the John Herron Art Institute, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 1921
Blake, who had a passion for early English literature and the Middle Ages, decided in 1809 to gain public recognition by producing and publishing this engraving based on Chaucer's long-forgotten medieval epic, The Canterbury Tales. Contrary to popular taste, Blake created a procession of Chaucer's characters in the archaic, hard-edged and static style of Gothic illustrations, which he thought appropriate. The public ridiculed his effort.
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