Category Catholic

Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13)


http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/340853

This is William Blake’s The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (c. 1799–1800), a pen, ink, and watercolor drawing now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Blake’s “WB” monogram is visible in the lower right corner.

It illustrates Matthew 25:1–13. The five wise virgins stand at left with their lamps lit, one pointing toward the arriving bridegroom (the lit city on the horizon), while the five foolish virgins at right, their lamps empty, plead and despair. The angel blowing a trumpet overhead signals the midnight cry announcing the bridegroom’s coming.

Blake painted several versions of this subject; others are in the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge), Tate Britain, and the Yale Center for British Art.