And When they Lifted up Their Eyes (The Book of Job) 1821

Editor: Here we have William Blake's drawing, "And When they Lifted up Their Eyes (The Book of Job)", housed at the Harvard Art Museums. I’m struck by the figures' ethereal quality and the sense of despair. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Ah, Blake. He invites us into a world of anguish and revelation, doesn't he? I see a man, Job, beset by suffering, surrounded by those who seek to understand, to comfort, perhaps even to judge. Notice how their gestures reach upwards, a yearning for divine understanding. It's as though they're wrestling with faith itself, a drama played out in the very fibers of the paper. Does it speak to you of hope amidst sorrow? Editor: It does now! Curator: Beautiful, isn't it, how art can open our eyes?