Satan calling up his legions

Satan Calling Up His Legions from 1809 illustrates Milton's Paradise Lost, one of Blake's central literary inspirations and the text against which he developed his most sustained theological argument. Blake's complex relationship with Milton — admiring the poetry while challenging the theology, arguing that Milton was 'of the Devil's party without knowing it' — produced some of his most powerful visionary compositions. Blake created this work using his distinctive tempera technique combined with his personal mythological vision that placed him outside the mainstream of British art while anticipating later Symbolist visionaries. The Satan of Paradise Lost fascinated Romantic artists for the grandeur of his rebellion, and Blake's interpretation emphasizes the muscular, commanding physicality of a figure who embodies both transgression and energy — the Blakean quality he associated with creative vitality even in its most destructive manifestations. The Victoria and Albert Museum preserves this tempera as part of its collection of British decorative and fine arts.

The commanding figure of Satan dominates the composition with muscular authority, Blake's characteristic precision in anatomical drawing combining with dramatic lighting effects.