Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils

Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils from 1826 at the National Gallery illustrates the Book of Job, a text Blake engaged with throughout his career. His illustrations to Job, engraved in 1825-26, are considered among the greatest achievements of English printmaking. The work belongs to Blake's sustained engagement with spiritual and mythological themes, executed in watercolor with the meticulous, jewel-like intensity that characterized his private illuminated works.

The powerful composition contrasts Satan's dynamic aggression with Job's patient suffering, the figures rendered with Blake's characteristic combination of anatomical precision and visionary intensity.