Blake’s The Ancient of Days - Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester
26 Oct 2011 - A collection of lost colour prints and illuminated books by the iconic artist and poet William Blake - potentially worth millions of pounds - is waiting to be discovered somewhere in the north east of England , according to a University of Manchester art historian. Colin Trodd - whose book about Blake is published by Liverpool University Press in the winter - says the works were bought from Blake himself possibly in the 1820s by the little-known artist James Ferguson. The academic, based in the University's School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, says Ferguson's collection was never found after he died - but could very well have been left in a pre-Victorian attic. He said: "James Ferguson lived a semi-nomadic life - stomping around South Shields, Newcastle and County Durham. "He would have taken the collection with him, so there's no reason to doubt that he left it somewhere in the region. "It could be that some lucky individual in an old house is sitting on a goldmine. According to Trodd, an unknown illuminated book entitled Outthoun is likely to be in the collection; other works include colour prints of Newton and God Judging Adam, two of Blake's most famous works.
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