Minneapolis Institute of Art

And smote Job with sore Boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head

William Blake

Date

1825

Medium

Engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The boils signify a spiritual disease involving Job's sensorial and emotional life which deprive him of eternity. The death of Job's senses—sight, hearing, taste and smell—is indicated by the four arrows beneath Satan's right hand. The sun is disappearing, not to be seen again until the last illustration. Job's wife is now separated from her husband yet still ministers to his needs. In the margin below is the broken sheep-hook of Innocence. The grasshopper (destroyer of crops) shall be a burden, and desire shall fail. The pitcher is broken at the fountain, which is now clogged with rubbish and identifiable only by the frog dwelling there. Bat-winged angels lower poisonous spiders, and thistles grow in the right corner. England, Europe

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