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Reviews

Vol. 57 no. 4: Spring 2024

William Blake’s The Ancient Britons: A Book and a Website (Now Vanished) Reviewed

DOI
https://doi.org/10.47761/biq.354
Submitted
27 March 2024
Published
25 Apr. 2024

Abstract

The artworks created by the Ancient Britons team are the result of critically informed readings and imaginings of the painting as it is described by Blake in A Descriptive Catalogue. These works were first exhibited in Stuttgart from 29 October 2020, with the exhibition temporarily closed in November and extended to 4 December. After the exhibition, presented as an ironic inversion of Blake’s failure to connect with his audiences in 1809, came the website, launched in July 2021. The exercise culminated in a book, which synthesizes the materials and experiences shared via the website and also frames them with a scholarly essay. This review, moving between all aspects of the project, will discuss the aspirations of the exhibition and its afterlife online and in book form.