Lear and Cordelia

probably c. 1806/1808 · Print

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Lear and Cordelia” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 12 days ago
In this state since: Aug 19, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

Details

Accession number: 1943.3.8976

What it shows

Woman Hand Portrait Man Arm

In the catalog

Prints Engraving Neoclassicism Romanticism 19th century British

Sources

National Gallery of Art
Image: National Gallery of Art — Museum open access

In the life of William Blake

The whole life

1780–1808
Exhibits six times at the Royal Academy
Despite his antagonism towards Reynolds, Blake submitted works to the Royal Academy on six occasions between 1780 and 1808.
October 1803 – 1820 · Residence
South Molton Street
1804
Returns to London and begins “Jerusalem”
In 1804 Blake returned to London and began to write and illustrate “Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion” (1804–20), his most ambitious work.
after 1804
Cromek cheats Blake; Stothard gets the commission
Having conceived the idea of portraying the characters of Chaucer's “Canterbury Tales”, Blake approached the dealer Robert Cromek with a view to marketing an engraving; Cromek, thinking Blake too eccentric to produce a popular work, promptly commissioned Blake's friend Thomas Stothard instead. When Blake learned he had been cheated, he broke off contact with Stothard.
c. 1808
Polemical annotations to Reynolds's “Discourses”
Around 1808 Blake gave vigorous expression to his views on art in an extensive series of polemical annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds's “Discourses”, denouncing the Royal Academy as a fraud and proclaiming that to generalise is to be an idiot.
1809
An exhibition in his brother's shop: nothing sold
Blake set up an independent exhibition in his brother's haberdashery shop at 27 Broad Street in Soho to market his version of “The Canterbury Pilgrims” along with other works. It was very poorly attended, sold none of the temperas or watercolours, and its only review, in The Examiner, was hostile.