Songs of Innocence: Infant Joy 1789 - 1825

"Infant Joy" is a print with hand colouring made by William Blake, a visionary artist and poet working in the late 18th and early 19th century. Blake lived through a period of radical social and political change, including the French and American Revolutions, events which profoundly influenced his art and his beliefs. Here, Blake combines image and text, a common practice for him, to explore themes of innocence, creation, and the divine. The illustration depicts a mother and two infants nestled within the petals of a flower, an intimate scene that speaks to the beauty and purity of new life. Blake challenges the rigid social and religious norms of his time, daring to represent spirituality as an experience rooted in the body and in nature. Consider the poem inscribed beneath the image, where the new-born infant proclaims, "Joy is my name." This line encapsulates Blake's belief in the inherent goodness and potential of humanity, an idea that flew in the face of the prevailing doctrine of original sin. Blake invites us to embrace the emotional and sensual dimensions of existence, to find joy in the here and now.