Newton!



Newton

     William Blake's artwork, Newton was created in 1795 while he lived in Lambeth. This art piece was a color print with pen and ink with watercolor. Blake wanted to depict the great Sr. Isaac Newton as a hero who was simply misguided by science alone. Within this photo he is solely admiring the sterile geometrical diagrams that are shown on the ground in which any geometer would take delight in studying.  Newton was one of the twelve largest colored prints created between 1795 and 1805. While painting this picture Blake stated, "Art is the Tree of Life. Science is the Tree of Death." This expression clearly states Blake's opinion on science. This allows people to assume he wasn't a fan of Isaac Newton or maybe just science in general. Newton's theory of optics was extremely offensive to Blake. Blake had a clear vision of a "vegetative eye" and spiritual vision. Newton's view of there being a god who sits back and attends to nothing such as creation seemed somewhat absurd to Blake. According to Blake this theory made no sense due to the fact that he has his spiritual visions. It seemed as though he was trying to compare himself to Newton on a more personal level. He down-graded Newton due to the fact they had opposite ways of thinking and theories. Blake was one to explore opposites which might have inspired him to express Newton and who he was through one of his very own work of art. Blake's tension towards Newton was mostly because if Newton's theory was correct then that would prove Blake to be a lie. So who's theory is correct? What do we believe, Science or religion? Can both be the correct way of thinking?

     Blake had held his evaluation of his imagination far above science and Newton's "New World View". Newton's view of the "Clock-wise Universe" was referred to as "Newton's sleep" in a verse in Blake's letter to Thomas Butts,

“Now I a fourfold vision see,
And a fourfold vision is given to me;
'Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And threefold in soft Beulah's night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newton's sleep!”

     Blake's opinions and theories are what makes up all of his artwork, so is it not unusual for him to paint and then describe someone who he might be slightly intimidated by? Was Blake trying to tear Newton apart or just simply protect himself and his own theory?