布雷克(1757～1827年)

Blake, William

英国诗人、画家、版画家和空想家。虽然没有进过学校，但在皇家学会学雕刻，1784年在伦敦开了一家版画店。他以创新的技巧制作彩色雕刻，并用他的「插画印刷」为自己制作带插画的诗集，包括《天真之歌》（1789）、《天堂与地狱的婚姻》（1793）和《经验之歌》（1794）。他的第三部大型史诗《耶路撒冷》（1804～1820）写的是人性的堕落与拯救，是他装饰最丰富的书籍。其他的主要着作包括《四个生物》（1795～1804）和《弥尔顿》（1804～1808）。在〈约伯记〉的启发下，後来创作了二十二幅水彩系列画，其中包括了他的一些最有名的画作。由於对人率真，不善言语，而被人称为疯子；其一生贫困，死时没没无闻。在西方文化传统上，他的作品具有惊人的原创性和独立性，现在布雷克被誉为浪漫主义最早和最伟大的人物之一。

English version：

1757～1827年

Blake, William

English poet, painter, engraver, and visionary. Though he did not attend school, he was trained as an engraver at the Royal Academy and opened a print shop in London in 1784. He developed an innovative technique for producing colored engravings and began producing his own illustrated books of poetry with his “illuminated printing,” including Songs of Innocence (1789), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793), and Songs of Experience (1794). Jerusalem (1804-20), his third major epic treating of the fall and redemption of humanity, is his most richly decorated book. His other major works include The Four Zoas (1795-1804) and Milton (1804-8). A late series of 22 watercolors inspired by the Book of Job includes some of his best-known pictures. He was called mad because he was single-minded and unworldly; he lived on the edge of poverty and died in neglect. His books form one of the most strikingly original and independent bodies of work in the Western cultural tradition. Ignored by the public of his day, he is now regarded as one of the earliest and greatest figures of Romanticism.