A Tate Retrospective Tamed the Radicalism of William Blake

A nation divided against itself and a monarchy beset by scandal. A Tory prime minister by turns humorous and harsh, statesmanlike and petty. A left opposition defeated and hungry for fresh leadership. A cohort of celebrity painters and sculptors in thrall to the 1 percent. And a legion of other artists scraping out livings by any means necessary: commercial work, teaching, modeling, serving food.The parallels between William Blake’s Britain of the 1790s and the Brexit-era United Kingdom go