"Life Mask Of Sir William Blake - James De Ville (1823)"
LITERATUREHolmes, Richard,The Romantic Poets and Their Circle, 2013, p. 29
Holmes, Richard,Insights: The Romantic Poets and Their Circle, 2005, p. 21
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob,Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 60
Walker, Richard,Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 50
Deville was a sculptor and phrenologist employed as a young assistant by Joseph Nollekens from whom no doubt he learned the technique of taking life-masks with the help of straws to prevent suffocation. The mask was taken when Blake was aged sixty-five so that the phrenologist could have a cast of Blake's head 'as representative of the imaginative faculty'. It failed however to please his family and friends;George Richmondsaid that the unnatural severity of the mouth was caused by the discomforture of the process 'as the plaster pulled out a quantity of his hair'.
