William Blake was born in London in 1757. His father, James Blake, was a hosier. William showed an early interest in drawing and later described visionary experiences that became an important part of his understanding of art and imagination.
As a child he attended the drawing school of Henry Pars. In 1772 he began a seven-year apprenticeship with the engraver James Basire. This training gave Blake the technical skills that would support him financially for much of his life.
Basire sent Blake to draw monuments in Westminster Abbey. His close study of medieval sculpture and Gothic art left a lasting impression upon him.
Blake entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1779. He resisted some of the artistic principles promoted there and increasingly developed an independent conception of what art should accomplish.
In 1782 he married Catherine Boucher. Catherine became an essential partner in his work. Blake taught her to read and write, and she assisted with printing and coloring his books and prints.
Blake published his first collection of poetry, Poetical Sketches, in 1783. During the following decade he developed a method generally known as relief etching. This allowed him to combine handwritten text and images on the same printing plate.
He used this process for works including Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, and a series of books that he called prophecies. Individual impressions could be colored by hand, so different copies of the same work were not necessarily identical.
Blake also continued working as a professional engraver and illustrator for other publishers. These commercial projects provided income while his personal books reached only a small audience.
Religion remained central to Blake's thought, but his beliefs were highly individual. He opposed religious coercion and developed a complex symbolic vocabulary through which biblical figures and themes could acquire meanings particular to his own writings.
From 1800 until 1803 Blake lived at Felpham in Sussex under the patronage of the writer William Hayley. He subsequently returned to London, where he remained for the rest of his life.
During his later years Blake found important support from the artist John Linnell. Linnell commissioned work and introduced Blake to a younger generation of artists who admired his independence and visionary approach.
Among Blake's greatest late achievements were his illustrations to the Book of Job. He had explored Job repeatedly during his career before producing the engraved series published in 1826.
Blake also began an extensive series of illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy during his final years. The project remained unfinished at his death.
William Blake died in London in 1827. He had received limited recognition from the wider art establishment during his lifetime. His reputation grew greatly after his death, and he eventually came to be regarded as a major figure in both British literature and visual art.