In the Tate Britain gallery hangs a small painting by the 18th-century poet and artist William Blake. Blake claimed he was inspired to create this phantasmagoric masterpiece after encountering in a vision a terrifying entity which introduced itself as “The Ghost of a Flea.”
Blake claimed he was “visited” by this entity, which posed for him as he sketched it. He was able to “communicate” with the monstrous being, which revealed that all fleas were inhabited by the souls of men who were “by nature bloodthirsty to excess.”
Nearby
Sites
| Name | Since | Distance | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visit London with MP3 City Guides en | 1km | site_izi | |||
| Urbirun London – Highlights en fr | 1km | site_izi | |||
| William Blake Mosaics | 2020 | 1.2km | site_ao | ||
| Smith Square World War II Ghost Sign | 2019 | 0.6km | site_ao | ||
| ‘Merry-Go-Round’ Painting | 2019 | 0km | site_ao | ||
| Vauxhall Bridge’s Miniature St. Paul’s Cathedral | 2019 | 0.4km | site_ao | ||
| Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries | 2019 | 0.9km | site_ao | ||
| S.O.E. Monument | 2019 | 0.7km | site_ao | ||
| Torso in Metal from Rock Drill | 2019 | 0km | site_ao | ||
| ‘An Allegory of Man’ | 2019 | 0km | site_ao | ||
| Parliamentary Division Bells | 2019 | 1.1km | site_ao | ||
| Remembering Boadicea, the Fierce Celtic Warrior Queen | 2019 | 1.2km | site_ao | ||
| ‘Titania and Bottom’ | 2018 | 0km | site_ao | ||
| A London Pub With Underground Prison Cells and a Spy Room | 2017 | 0.2km | site_ao | ||
| Pimlico Academy | 0.8km | site_brutalism | |||
| Lambeth Towers | 1964 | 1.2km | site_brutalism | ||
| Ministry of Justice | 1.1km | site_brutalism | |||
| Lillington Gardens | 1961 | 0.6km | site_brutalism | ||
| Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret’s Church | 1987 | 1km | site_whs |
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