Minneapolis Institute of Art

Then went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord

William Blake

Date: 1825
Medium: Engraving
Department: European Art
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Plate V is not based on the biblical text. Here Job shares his last loaf of bread with a blind beggar. He does this since it is the proper thing to do not because he naturally wishes to do it. Such charity can only be bestowed and received with the left hand. Job's God keeps his seat by clutching at the book of law; the scroll which represents the better sides of Job's life that he has ignored appears dangling and ignored in his left hand. Nevertheless, this type of charity is a spiritual act (his right foot protrudes beneath the robe) and the angels still attend to him. The flames that Satan diverts toward the head of Job are fires of guilt; the appalled angels withdraw from them. The Gothic church is now absent for Job is now in error. The cromlech, a Druid structure in the background has replaced the church. The former is the symbol of a primal, brutal religion which sacrifices others but not the self. The sympathy of Job's wife contradicts the biblical account, where she urges Job to curse God and die; here she is supportive of her husband with confidence and love. The margins are filled with flames and briars and the serpent, now fully revealed, though not to Job. England, Europe

View at Minneapolis Institute of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.