Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book attempts to construct the Swiss theologian Johann Caspar Lavater as an influence on William Blake's understanding of body–soul relationships. It explores text–image relationships in Lavater, focusing on the role, use and value of physiognomical portraits, and determines what signifies a good copy and a good likeness. The book outlines how Lavater's physiognomy might have fitted into the English discourse about good likeness. It also explores some of the international context of Blake's work and ideas. The book also outlines the mental framework which Lavater, Henry Fuseli and Blake shared in matters of the body. It focuses on the religious and medical contexts of Blake's creation myth, while the interlude following it will showcase a reading of the flesh and blood bodies of Urizen. The book explains how Blake's bodies resist interpretation by physiognomical portrait.