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Article

Vol. 47 no. 4: Spring 2014

Blake in the Marketplace, 2013

  • Robert N. Essick
DOI
https://doi.org/10.47761/biq.132
Submitted
17 March 2014
Published
17 Mar. 2014

Abstract

After two hectic years, Blake collectors deserved a respite. It was not to be. January brought to auction Two Visionary Figures on a leaf from the Smaller Blake-Varley Sketchbook and, for the second time in seven years, The Gambols of Ghosts According with Their Affections Previous to the Final Judgement, one of Blake’s watercolor illustrations to Robert Blair’s The Grave. The estimate range for Gambols was considerably lower than in 2006, when bidders failed to exceed the reserve price. Sotheby’s New York succeeded this time at the top estimate of $600,000 ($722,500 inclusive of the buyer’s premium charged by the auction house).