Laocoon (1976)
Title
Laocoon (1976)
Student Commentary:
Blake includes various notes about his interpretation of the Laocoons sculpture in this engraving (1976 facsimile). He believed the sculpture to depict Jehovah and his two sons, Adam and Satan. Blake’s commentary that surrounds the human figures touches on many subjects, but themes of creativity, art, and the imagination abound in Blakean aphorisms such as “Without Unceasing Practise nothing can be done Practise is Art / If you leave off you are Lost.” “Prayer is the Study of Art Praise is the Practise of Art.” “Art can never exist without / Naked Beauty displayed.” “The Eternal Body of Man is the Imagination, that is God himself.”