The Death of Saint Joseph

William Blake, 1803

This painting shows a man lying on a bed attended by people with halos of light around their heads. The man is laying horizontally, his head on the right and his feet towards the left. He has a beard, a white cloth over his curly hair, and a white garment on, and his hands are clasped upright on his chest. His lower body and legs are beneath a textured blue blanket. A man and a woman are by his head, holding him. They are both robed in white, and the man has brown hair and a brown beard, while the woman has a long cloth covering her hair. All three people have white skin with hints of pale pink, light blue, and gray. Above the three people, an arched rainbow stretches across the top of the painting. Within the rows of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and pink are faint cherubic faces surrounded by wings, all looking down. The background is dark, with lines radiating outward from the three people.
Artist
William Blake
Date
1803
Type
Drawing
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and charcoal on wove paper
Dimensions
37.6 × 35.4 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

This painting shows a man lying on a bed attended by people with halos of light around their heads. The man is laying horizontally, his head on the right and his feet towards the left. He has a beard, a white cloth over his curly hair, and a white garment on, and his hands are clasped upright on his chest. His lower body and legs are beneath a textured blue blanket. A man and a woman are by his head, holding him. They are both robed in white, and the man has brown hair and a brown beard, while the woman has a long cloth covering her hair. All three people have white skin with hints of pale pink, light blue, and gray. Above the three people, an arched rainbow stretches across the top of the painting. Within the rows of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and pink are faint cherubic faces surrounded by wings, all looking down. The background is dark, with lines radiating outward from the three people.

William Blake