ABSTRACT
Although Cromek considered his disputes with Blake to be behind him, Blake was not ready to stop fighting. Cromek’s next project gave him something new to fight over. In 1806, well before his edition of The Grave was published, Cromek engaged Thomas Stothard to paint The Procession of Chaucer’s Pilgrims to Canterbury and announced plans to publish a print of it by subscription. More than a year later, Blake, in retaliation, painted his own version, pointedly making his title exactly the same as Stothard’s, and he advertised his intention to engrave and sell impressions of the design. Blake’s rival project shows his determination to sway public opinion in order to vindicate his private grievances against Cromek. In this attempt he would be severely disappointed.1
