Paradise Lost Illustrated

I've always thought that Paradise Lost would make one incredible film if anyone could be found to soar "with no middle flight" in pursuit of "things unattempted yet" on the silver screen.  Or would it be best as a lavish Disney animation?  Couldn't those who put together Fantasia give us a suitable Satan rising up off the burning lake, while "on each hand the flames / Driven backward slope their pointing spires, and rolled / In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid vale"?  It's a scary thought, but maybe with their technical know-how and some effective supervision . . . ?

But short of a Ben Hur or Fantasia style Paradise Lost, we have at least the painters' renditions of this great epic, which I hope to collect here at one website.   Eventually I would like to include explanatory text and background on the different sets of illustrations.  If you are interested in providing such, please let me know.   Thus far it is only a beginning, but suggestions, sources, and comments are welcome at  Don Ulin at ulin@pitt.edu

The illustrations

• William Blake (1808) -- Nine thumbnail images from Books III, IV (2), V, VI, VIII, IX, and XII (2), all linked to larger images (from the 1940 edition from Heritage Press, edited by Philip Hofer).
• The Iconography of Paradise Lost (courtesy George Klawitter, St. Edwards University) includes the following:
  • 30 Illustrations by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)
  • 24 Illustrations by John Martin (1789-1854)
  • 11 Illustrations by John B. Medina
  • 9 illustrations by Edward Burney (you may need to scroll down to see the images)
  • 12 illustrations by Richard Westall (1765-1836)
  • 2 illustrations (Books II and IV) by Francis Hayman (1707/8-1776)
  • 1 illustration by Bernard Lens
• Terrance Lindall retrospective at the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center the most recent illustrations here, published as a book in 1982 and also in Heavy Metal Magazine.
• English 0203 (British Literature Survey) Class illustrations of Milton's universe

Scholarship

• Behrendt, Stephen C. The Moment of Explosion: Blake and the Illustration of Milton. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
• Davies, J. M. Q. Blake's Milton Designs : the Dynamics of Meaning. West Cornwall, CT : Locust Hill Press, 1993.
• Dickson, Lloyd. "Against the Wiles of the Devil: Carlotta Petrina's Christocentric Illustrations of Paradise Lost."  Milton Studies 25 (1989), 161-195.
• Klawitter George. "John Martin's Revolution and Grandeur: A New Direction for Milton's Early Illustrators," Explorations in Renaissance Culture (1998) 91-117.  (See "Iconography of Paradise Lost" above.)
• Pointon, Marcia R.  Milton and English Art.  Manchester: Manchester U.P., 1970.
• Werner, Bette Charlene. Blake's Vision of the Poetry of Milton: Illustrations to Six Poems. Lewisburg : Bucknell University Press, 1986.