{"secondaryobjectnumber":"","periodterms":[],"creditline":"Graphic Arts Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections, Firestone Library","caption":"William Blake (1757–1827; born and died London, England), Eternally I labour on [Urizen, Plate 9 from Small Book of Designs copy B], 1794. Monotype; 28 × 22 cm (sheet). Graphic Arts Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections, Firestone Library (L.2019.23.1)","cultureterms":[],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[],"geography":[],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"sheet","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"28.00"},{"element":"sheet","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"22.00"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":null,"newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":418,"displayname":"William Blake","displaydate":"1757–1827; born and died London, England","datebegin":1757,"dateend":1757,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"William Blake, 1757–1827; born and died London, England","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1794,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Prints","packages":[{"packageid":171945,"name":"web_2019_K2 Corridor_September_install Single Drop"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/GA2007.02184"],"displaytitle":"Eternally I labour on [Urizen, Plate 9 from Small Book of Designs copy B]","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"William Blake, 1757–1827; born and died London, England","captionhtml":"William Blake (1757–1827; born and died London, England), Eternally I labour on [Urizen, Plate 9 from Small Book of Designs copy B], 1794. Monotype; 28 × 22 cm (sheet). Graphic Arts Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections, Firestone Library (L.2019.23.1)","displaydate":"1794","medium":"Monotype","media":[{"id":221618,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/GA2007.02184","isprimary":1,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"exhibition use only"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":false,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[],"nowebuse":"True","periods":[],"department":"Exhibitions","attribute_groups":[],"daterange":"A.D. 1700-1800","dateend":1794,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Eternally I labour on [Urizen, Plate 9 from Small Book of Designs copy B]","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":null,"objectnumber":"L.2019.23.1","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"

In Blake’s personal mythology, Urizen is the embodiment of law and reason, the force that created the universe. In this image, a version of which precedes the second chapter of Blake’s Book of Urizen, the title figure, placing his book upon a rock after having labored in solitude, professes:


Here alone I, in books form’d of metals / Have written
the secrets of Wisdom, . . . / Lo! I unfold my darkness,
and on / This rock place, with strong hand, the Book /
Of eternal brass, written in my solitude

Blake’s emphasis on books and metals recalls the printmaking process, including that behind the Book of Urizen—itself a book wrought from metal. Due to his idiosyncratic reliefetching technique, only a few unique impressions could be pulled from the copper plate. This example  belonged to the second copy of his Small Book of Designs, a work intended to showcase the artist’s “illuminated printing.”

","remarks":"K2 Corridor: “A Single Drop of Ink for a Mirror”: Nineteenth-Century British Literature and the Visual Arts"}],"datebegin":1794,"sortnumber":"2019 23L 1","published_date":"2026-02-11 14:42:20.042291","objectid":135786,"dimensions":"sheet: 28 × 22 cm (11 × 8 11/16 in.)","on_view":false}