Art, literature & history![Sketch of a Swordsman Standing Over His Defeated Opponent [recto] — William Blake](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fartworks%2Fopen-museums%2Fnight-nga-commons%2F1f544446-66ba-49b5-8f46-f7b1887d95a9-b8e65b890d8bd19d.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Sketch of a Swordsman Standing Over His Defeated Opponent [recto]
c. 1780/1785
- Dating
- Approximate date range
- Held at
- National Gallery of Art
- Medium
- graphite
- Dimensions
- overall (approximate): 36.4 x 24.9 cm (14 5/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1980.45.182.a
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
William Blake. Sketch of a Swordsman Standing Over His Defeated Opponent [recto]. William Blake; This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the National Gallery of Art . Please see the Gallery's Open Access Policy .. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Blake,_Sketch_of_a_Swordsman_Standing_Over_His_Defeated_Opponent_(recto),_c._1780-1785,_NGA_57830.jpg. CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). Full-frame proportional resize and JPEG compression.
Collection: National Gallery of Art
About this artwork
Sketch of a Swordsman Standing Over His Defeated Opponent [recto] — William Blake. c. 1780/1785.
Medium: graphite.
Dimensions (museum labels retained): overall (approximate): 36.4 x 24.9 cm (14 5/16 x 9 13/16 in.).
Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington. Accession 1980.45.182.a. Rosenwald Collection.
Museum holding does not establish current display.
Source: National Gallery of Art, CC0 collection metadata, retrieved 9 September 2026.
Location checked Sep 9, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.