Blake, William
Blake, William ( 1757 – 1827 ),the third son of a London hosier. He did not go to school, but was apprenticed to James Basire, engraver to the Society of Antiquaries , and then became a student at the Royal Academy . From 1779 he was employed as an engraver by the bookseller J. Johnson , and in 1780 met Fuseli and Flaxman , the latter a follower of Swedenborg , whose mysticism deeply influenced Blake . In 1782 he married Catherine Boucher , the daughter of a market-gardener; their childless marriage was a lasting communion. Flaxman at this period introduced him to the progressive intellectual circle of the Revd A. S. Mathew and his wife (which included Mrs Barbauld , H. More , and Mrs E. Montagu ), and Mathew and Flaxman financed the publication of Blake's first volume, Poetical Sketches ( 1783 ). In 1784 , with help from Mrs Mathew , he set up a print shop at 27...
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