Catherine Blake (née Boucher; 25 April 1762 – 18 October 1831) was the wife of the poet, painter and engraver

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

, and a vital presence and assistant throughout his life.

Life

Catherine was the last child of

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or s ...

er William Boucher (1714–1794) and Mary Davis (1716–1782). A "demure young woman", in response to her mother's queries regarding which of her acquaintances she would take for a husband, she would reply that she had not yet met such a man.William Blake, Osbert Burdett, 1926, Parkstone Press International (reprint), p. 37 She met William Blake in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

in 1781, during his brief visit to the area, while he was recovering from an emotional upset following the failure of an earlier relationship. Their courtship was brief. According to early biographers of Blake, Catherine immediately recognised him as her future husband and when she sympathised with him over his earlier emotional troubles he replied "do you pity me? Then I love you." Blake married Catherine – who was five years his junior – on 18 August 1782 in

St. Mary's Church, Battersea St Mary's Church, Battersea, is the oldest of the churches in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, in the inner south-west of the UK's capital city. Its parish shared by three Anglican churches is in the diocese of Southwark. Christi ...

. Illiterate, Catherine signed her wedding contract with an 'X' "like many brides of her day", there being "no national schools... and even regular Sunday schools had not been invented". They remained together until his death in 1827.Myrone, 155 Blake taught her to read and write, and also to use his

printing-press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

. She was considered to be the foundation of Blake's "invariable type of woman" as depicted in his art, "tall, slender, and with unusually long legs". The couple did not have children, and it has been suggested that Blake wanted to bring a concubine into the relationship to act as a surrogate mother, which was consistent with the theories of

Swedenborgianism The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious group, influenced by the writings of scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Swedenborgian or ...

by which Blake was influenced.Robert Rix, ''William Blake and the Cultures of Radical Christianity'', Ashgate, 2007, p. 193. Blake's earliest biographer

Alexander Gilchrist Alexander Gilchrist (182830 November 1861), an English author, is known mainly as a biographer of William Etty and of William Blake. Gilchrist's biography of Blake is still a standard reference work about the poet. Gilchrist was born at Newingto ...

does not mention this, but speaks of unspecified troubles in the early years of the relationship. However,

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

later explicitly asserted that this was the case, but that Blake dropped the idea when he saw that it upset Catherine. No documentary evidence survives supporting this notion, but Blake is known to have stated that he "learned from the Bible that wives should be held in common." The Letters of William Blake (1906) Kate's portrait

The Letters of William Blake (1906) Kate's portrait

Writers who knew the couple in their later years describe a very happy relationship. In 1802,

William Hayley William Hayley (9 November 174512 November 1820) was an English writer, best known as the biographer of his friend William Cowper. Biography Born at Chichester, he was sent to Eton College, Eton in 1757, and to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 176 ...

wrote that William "and his excellent wife (a true helpmate!) pass the plates thro' a rolling press in their own cottage together". On his deathbed, Blake drew a picture of Catherine as his last work, stating "you have ever been an angel to me". After her husband's death Catherine was taken in by Blake's admirer

Frederick Tatham Frederick Tatham (31 July 1805 – 29 July 1878) was an English artist who was a member of the Shoreham Ancients, a group of followers of William Blake. The son of Charles Heathcote Tatham, an architect, Tatham and his brother and sister were ...

, for whom she nominally worked as a housekeeper. At this period she continued to sell Blake's works. When she died four years later Tatham claimed that she had bequeathed all Blake's works to him. When he later converted to

Irvingite The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church, is a Christian denomination and Protestant sect which originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.J. T. Smith said that Blake "allowed her, to the last moment of his practice, to take off his proof impressions and print his works, which she did most carefully." Catherine's role in colouring at least some of William's illuminated books has been wide, although her hand is usually attributed to some of the more clumsily rendered passages. Her work as a printer is held in higher regard.

Role in literature

It has often been suggested that the figure of

Enitharmon Enitharmon is a major female character in William Blake's mythology, playing a main part in some of his prophetic books. She is, but not directly, an aspect of the male Urthona, one of the Four Zoas. She is in fact the Emanation of Los, also male ...

in Blake's mythology is partly inspired by Catherine. Enitharmon is the wife of the "eternal prophet"

Los LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...

in Blake's writings. Catherine is explicitly identified as the poet's "shadow of delight" in the second part of Blake's ''

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

''. Catherine appears as a model wife in William Hayley's writings on ideal marriages. In more recent literature, she is the central character in Janet Adele Warner's novel ''Other Sorrows, Other Joys: The Marriage of Catherine Sophia Boucher and William Blake'' (2001) and also features in

Tracy Chevalier Tracy Rose Chevalier (born 19 October 1962) is an American-British novelist. She is best known for her second novel, '' Girl with a Pearl Earring'', which was adapted as a 2003 film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. Personal backgr ...

's novel ''Burning Bright'' (2007). She is an amateur detective in short stories by

Keith Heller Keith Louis Heller (born 3 April 1948) is a Canadian transport executive in the rail freight transport industry. In 2005 he was ranked 57 in the Power 100 listing published by '' Country Life'' magazine. Heller is notable for having run major ...

. Jack Shepherd's stage play ''In Lambeth'' dramatised a visit by

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

to the

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

home of William and Catherine Blake in 1789. It was first performed at the East Dulwich Tavern in July 1989. The play was later adapted for television in the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

''Encounters'' series (which featured similar fictionalised meetings between historical figures) and was first broadcast on 4 July 1993. It was directed by Sebastian Graham-Jones, and featured

Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurenc ...

as William,

Bob Peck Robert Peck (23 August 1945 – 4 April 1999) was an English actor who played Ronald Craven in the television serial ''Edge of Darkness'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He was also known for his role as game warden Robe ...

as Paine and Lesley Clare O'Neill as Catherine.

Notes

References

* Myrone, Martin. ''The Blake Book''. London:

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Catherine 1762 births 1831 deaths English printers