Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/45

 Rh belongs the second of his designs for "The Last Judgment," which comes nearer to that which is described in the letter to Ozias Humphrey than the previous one engraved by Schiavonetti for Blair's Grave, The subject is, however, much less elaborately treated than in the Petworth picture, finished two years later. A second commission from Lady Egremont was carried out about the same time as the other; it was an experiment picture in the fresco medium, entitled "Satan calling up his Legions," from Paradise Lost. This magnificent work is still also at Petworth. It is the "more perfect picture afterward executed for a lady of high rank," alluded to in the Descriptive Catalogue, The scene is in lurid darkness at the brink of the fiery lake: everywhere sheets of flame are mounting from gulfs and fissures, and down a sheer cliff a torrent of molten flint is streaming, to join the seething lava flood below. The nude form of Satan, with uplifted arms, stands erect on high, in the midst, against a background of fire. Beelzebub, a crown of gold upon his head, is reclining deep in thought upon a rock below him. Overhead, on either side, is a cluster of rebels pursued headlong from heaven by flaming arrows and hail and many lightnings. All around Satan are the leaders of his host, princes and deities and demons, some of