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John Varley – an artist, astrologer and close friend of Blake – reported in his 'Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy' (1882) that Blake was once visited by the ghost of a flea and that ‘This spirit visited his imagination in such a figure as he never anticipated in an insect.’ While drawing the spirit it told the artist that all fleas were inhabited by the souls of men who were ‘by nature bloodthirsty to excess’.
Date
c.1819–20
Medium
Tempera heightened with gold on mahogany
Measurements
H 21.4 x W 16.2 cm
Accession number
N05889
Acquisition method
Bequeathed by W. Graham Robertson 1949
Work type
Painting
Tate Britain
Millbank, London, Greater London SW1P 4RG England
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