Newton
1795–c. 1805 · Colour print, ink and watercolour on paper · Tate Britain, London
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This print

About this work
- Artist
- William Blake (1757–1827)
- Year
- 1795–c. 1805
- Medium
- Colour print, ink and watercolour on paper
- Original size
- 46 × 60 cm
- Collection
- Tate Britain, London
- Movement
- Romanticism
Isaac Newton crouches naked on a rock at the bottom of the sea, bent double over a scroll on which he draws a geometric figure with a pair of compasses, his attention fixed entirely on the diagram and blind to the coloured, algae-covered world around him. For Blake the image was a critique, not a tribute: Newton stood for the single vision of materialist science, which Blake set against imaginative and spiritual sight, and the compasses are the same instrument held by his tyrant creator Urizen in The Ancient of Days. The print is one of the twelve Large Colour Prints Blake began in 1795 and reworked around 1805, each impression finished by hand in ink and watercolour. This impression is at Tate Britain; Eduardo Paolozzi's bronze outside the British Library is based on it.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A crouching figure with compasses at the bottom of a coloured sea, for a study, home office or science room at 24×18 or 32×24 in black, no mat. White, warm grey or deep blue; it holds its own as a single image above a desk.
- Style
- Romanticism painting
- Era
- 18th century (1795–c. 1805)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 16×12, 24×18, 32×24 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard; 32×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or natural oak frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Newton in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Newton painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.










