The work of nineteenth century Wexford artist Francis Danby (1793 – 1861) features as part of the National Gallery of Ireland’s major exhibition William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy. This loan exhibition from Tate, curated in partnership with the National Gallery of Ireland, presents a selection of Blake’s most iconic works of art, alongside paintings and drawings by his contemporaries. It offers a rare opportunity to encounter one of the most visionary figures in art and literature. The exhibition runs until Sunday 19 July 2026 at the Gallery.
Francis Danby, who was born on 16 November 1793 in county Wexford, went on to become a prominent figure in Romantic art. Danby played a central role in the group of artists known as the Bristol School, and became celebrated for his dramatic canvases inspired by biblical imagery. Danby’s large-scale oil on canvas, The Deluge, painted around 1840, is on display in the ‘Horror and Peril’ section of this exhibition. The unearthly light and monumental scale of this work give it an emotional intensity like to that of his famous 1828 painting, The Opening of the Sixth Seal, part of the permanent collection at the Gallery.
Wildly unconventional in terms of both technique and thought, William Blake developed a distinctive visual language to explore opposing forces of creation and destruction, reason and imagination, and is a singular force in the history of art. His inventive works have resonated far beyond his own era. Blake’s influence continues to echo through contemporary culture, inspiring musicians such as U2, Bob Dylan and Patti Smith; filmmakers including Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese; writers from J.G. Ballard to Allen Ginsberg; and designers such as Una Burke, whose work features in a special three-piece collaboration accompanying the exhibition in the Gallery’s gift shop.
Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils
Opening with a selection of Blake’s iconic large colour prints, William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy immediately immerses visitors in the drama and visionary intensity that defines his work. These striking images introduce the exhibition’s central themes, which unfold across a series of sections that place key works by Blake alongside paintings and drawings by the artists he admired and those who were inspired by him. By placing Blake in a wider context of originality and experimentation, the exhibition offers a compelling insight into a transformative moment in European art. It provides a window into uniquely imaginative works of art that address many topics that are as urgent and relevant today as they were during the Romantic period.
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