No 28 Broad Street, Golden Square, Soho, the year is 1809: artist William Blake stages a one-man exhibition above his brother's hosiery shop. Fast forward two hundred years and the remaining ten paintings from the exhibition can be seen, this time in the far more illustrious setting of Tate Britain, one of London's foremost national galleries. Today's reaction is in total contrast to the initial reception in 1809 which was somewhat subdued - the only review at the time dismissed it as a "farrago of nonsense". Writing in The Examiner, Robert Hunt described the paintings as "very badly drawn". These same works are now regarded as some of Blake's most important and Blake himself is heralded as one of Britain's greatest artists, considered the founding father of the Romantic movement. Exquisite and fragile works like Jacob's Ladder and Christ in the Sepulchre, Guarded by Angels are on show at the Tate - alongside pictures from the gallery's permanent collection. Call it a change in taste or fashion's fickle nature, for whatever reason William Blake's works now enjoy a popularity he never saw in his lifetime.
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No 28 Broad Street, Golden Square, Soho, the year is 1809: artist William Blake stages a one-man exhibition above his brother's hosiery shop. Fast forward two hundred years and the remaining ten paintings from the exhibition can be seen, this time in the far more illustrious setting of 
