Satan calling up his legions

Satan Calling Up His Legions from 1809 illustrates Milton's Paradise Lost, one of Blake's central literary inspirations. Blake's complex relationship with Milton—admiring the poetry while challenging the theology—produced some of his most powerful visionary compositions. Blake created the work using his distinctive tempera or watercolor technique, combined with his personal mythological vision that placed him outside the mainstream of British art while anticipating later Symbolist and Romantic c

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