Skip to main content

Head of William Blake (1757-1827): M.7-1947

An image of Life mask

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

Alternative views

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Head of William Blake (1757-1827)

Maker(s)

Maker: Deville, James S.

Entities

Categories

Description

Calcium-sulphate-plaster head incorporating a cast life mask of William Blake. The neck rises from an integrally-cast circular plaster socle. The exterior is covered with a wax-shellac coating.
In a black tin trunk (A) with key (B) not accessioned

Legal notes

Given by Lady Richmond

Measurements and weight

Depth: 26 cm
Height: 29.5 cm
Width: 17.3 cm

Place(s) associated

  • London ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1947-07-18) by Richmond, Lady

Dating

19th Century, Early#
George IV
Production date: AD 1823 : The life mask was taken on September 1823

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Surface composed of wax-shellac coating ( All over the object, except the underside of the socle which is bare uncoated plaster. The colour derives entirely from the coating media; no significant colour pigments detected. Identifications by Dr Flavia Fiorillo using FTIR and XRF: see analytical report 2023-11-13)

Materials used in production

calcium sulphate Plaster

Techniques used in production

Casting (process) : Calcium sulphate plaster-cast, with an unpigmented yellow(ed) wax-shellac coating. With a few further localised patches of thicker, orange, shellac, perhaps contemporaneous additions or later repairs.

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.7-1947
Primary reference Number: 77336
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 19 February 2024 Last processed: Monday 19 February 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Head of William Blake (1757-1827)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/77336 Accessed: 2024-12-22 17:45:53

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/77336 |title=Head of William Blake (1757-1827) |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 17:45:53|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-77336

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa29/m_7_1947_1_201307_amt49_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Head of William Blake (1757-1827)"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Head of William Blake (1757-1827)</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...