A Portrait of Milton Engraved by William Blake ‘When Three Years of Age’?: A Speculation by Samuel Palmer

G.E. BENTLEY, JR A Portrait of Milton Engraved by William Blake 'When Three Years of Age'? A Speculation by Samuel Palmer In March 1879 Samuel Palmer wrote to George Richmond: Touching Milton ... Iasked William Blake whetherthere was anyone portrait of him indicative of his greatness. Yes, he said - there was a print in Hollis's [i.e., Francis Blackburne'sllife ofThomas Hollis and I think he added that it was from aplaster cast orbust. Now afriend has lent me acollection of24 engravings or etchings ofMilton placed in the order of his age, - and among them are three etchings by Cipriani [see plates I- In] each in an oval wreath of laurels or what not. The original of each having been in the possession of Hollis. One alone renders Milton as one would love to imagine him, & this is from a plaster cast [see plate 1I1. - Now every part of this etching except the head is unmistakeably by the same artist (Cipriani) as the two others, & the head, it seems to me, unmistakeably not. The lips are finely chiselled, the expression is noble, & they combine with a peculiar treatment of the hair in attesting themselves to be the burin work ofWilliam Blake. The dress, wreath, & ray-like background are just in the manner of the other two, the wreaths being very well etched in all, - but everything is quite different from this mysterious head: mysterious because if Blake did it for Cipriani he must have done so when three years of age - the inscribed date of the etching being 1760. But what if the original head received some damage on the copper & was sent years after its original publication to Basire or to Blake for repair? I do not think the head had become worn, for the rest of the etching does not indicate it,t Both Samuel Palmer and George Richmond had of course known Blake intimately in his last years, though they were only twenty-two and eighteen when Blake died, and th ey both cherished their memories of him and told others gladly what they knew of him. In matters of fact concerning Blake they are very reliable, and especially so when they talked of Blake to one another, for each could test the accuracy of his memory of Blake against that of the other. Assuming that Samuel Palmer did write such a letter, I think we are justified in taking at face value his report of his conversation with Blake. Further, we can confirm at least the context, for Crabb Robinson reported in his Reminiscences a conversation with Blake on 17 December 1825: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 51, NUMBER 1, FALL 1981 0042-024718111000-0028-0035$01.5010 Cl UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS A PORTRAIT OF MILTON 29 ]111.\"""" ANn ET ('HEJ> Ml)C'C'LX nYJ.H . l'JPnJ.-\.~I AT THE. VI:: :-iIHE flY THOMAS HOLLIS F.Jt.ANll A.Si" ~JJ>l ·\'J.X J\YJ.H.( ' JI'J:LL'\J _\ T" S (",\'\ ..\'1' TJ I E In: S I HI·: OF 'I'll (UJ .\:-:' II 1)) . 1.1 S 1'. It ..\-:'\")) .\.SS. F lunl .\ l'OaTH.\)'!" I=" ('] L \ Y()~S :'\'()\\" t~ TJIE l'OSS J': S~J()7\: o f ;\IEss : n):--.::s():,\ IHH)),sr.I.LF.ns 1:'\ TilE S'I'It,\:'\:'I Lt):"\IH):"\ PLATE III Head of Milton, sighted, adapted, from Faithorne's crayon portrait, by Cipriani (1760), printed in Memoirs of Thomas Hollis (1780), vol II, at p 529 )2 G.E. BENTLEY, JR PLATE IV Head of Milton by Blake (,800), for Hayley's library at Felpham The watercolour is reproduced by permission of the City of Manchester Art GaUery. As he spoke of frequentlySeeing Milton, I ventured to ask, half ashamed at the time, which of the three orfour portraits in Hollis's Memoirs (Vals in 4to) is the most like[.)- He answd [')They are aU alike, At different Ages[.) - I have seen him as a youth And as an old man with a long flowing beard[.) He came lately as an old man[.') - ' Clearly Blake was familiar with the portraits of Milton in Hollis's Memoirs. Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, Esq. F.R. and A.S.S.[e...