The Ancient of Days
The Ancient of Days setting a Compass to the Earth, frontispiece to copy K ofEurope a Prophecy
Artist	William Blake
Year	1794
Medium	ink
Movement	Romanticism
Dimensions	23.3 cm × 16.8 cm (9.2 in × 6.6 in)
Location	Proof copy at theBritish Museum[1],London

The Ancient of Days is a design byWilliam Blake, originally published as the frontispiece to the 1794 workEurope a Prophecy. It draws its name fromone of God's titles in the Book of Daniel and showsUrizen^[2] crouching in a circular design with a cloud-like background. His outstretched hand holds a compass over the darker void below. Related imagery appears in Blake'sNewton, completed the next year. As noted inAlexander Gilchrist's 1863 book,Life of William Blake, the design ofThe Ancient of Days was "a singular favourite with Blake and as one it was always a happiness to him to copy".^[3] As such there are many versions of the work extant, including one completed forFrederick Tatham only weeks before Blake's death.^[3]

The British Museum notes that one copy, accessioned in 1885, was excluded fromMartin Butlin's 1982catalogue raisonné of Blake's paintings and drawings, suggesting the author doubted that attribution.^[4]

Early critics of Blake noted the work as amongst his best, and a favourite of the artist himself. A description by Richard Thompson inJohn Thomas Smith'sNollekens and His Times, was of "... an uncommonly fine specimen of art, and approaches almost to the sublimity of Raffaelle or Michel Angelo", and as representing the event given in theBook of Proverbs viii. 27 (KJV), "when he set a compass upon the face of the earth".^[5] The subject is said to have been one of the 'visions' experienced by Blake and that he took an especial pleasure in producing the prints. The copy commissioned by Tatham in the last days of Blake's life, for a sum of money exceeding any previous payment for his work, was tinted by the artist while propped up in his bed. After his revisions, it is said that Blake^[5]

threw it from him, and with an air of exulting triumph exclaimed, "There, that will do! I cannot mend it."

The image was used as the 2006 paperback cover ofStephen Hawking's 2005 bookGod Created the Integers. It was also used as a design influence for the album cover ofThe Concept (1978) by American funk bandSlave.

There are currently thirteen known extant copies ofEurope a Prophecy. Because of Blake's production process of hand colouring each print, each image has its own unique qualities. The following images ofThe Ancient of Days are those available via the digital archiving project, theWilliam Blake Archive:^[6]

• 
  The Ancient of Days inEurope a Prophecy, copy B, from theGlasgow University Library
• 
  The Ancient of Days inEurope a Prophecy, copy D, from theBritish Museum
• 
  The Ancient of Days inEurope a Prophecy, copy E, from theLibrary of Congress
• 
  The G copy,Morgan Library & Museum^[7]
• 
  The Ancient of Days inEurope a Prophecy, copy H, from theHoughton Library
• 
  The Ancient of Days inEurope a Prophecy, copy K, from theFitzwilliam Museum

Media related toThe Ancient of Days by William Blake at Wikimedia Commons

• Prints and drawings in the British Museum
• Works by William Blake
• 1794 drawings
• God the Father in art

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