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William Blake, after Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) Queens Katherine's Dream 1804 from The Plays of William Shakespeare, ed. A. Chalmers, F.C. and J. Rivington, London, 1805, [vol 7] engraving, proof before letters Gift of Professor Peter Tomory, 1992 P49-1992 National Gallery of Victoria Illustration to King Henry VIII, Act IV. Shortly before her death Queen Katherine falls asleep in the presence of her usher and her maid. She has a vision of six personages in white, bearing floral garlands, who dance about her. As the last disappears she wakes up. This is the moment depicted here. Fuseli had been commissioned late in 1802 to illustrate Chalmers's Shakespeare and the set of volumes was issued in 1804-5. This engraving, and one other, were the last two made by Blake for Fuseli. |