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The Ghost of a Flea
Original price was: $518.00.$299.00Current price is: $299.00.
Artist: William Blake
A clawed, reptilian figure strides through a curtained, shadow-thick stage in this hand-painted reproduction of a visionary image by William Blake.
Description
Description
A curtain pulls back on a small, stage-lit space where a scaled, muscular figure strides forward, clawed hand gripping a bowl, tongue flicking from its open mouth. The light falls narrow and theatrical, picking out the gleam of reptilian skin against a field of near-total darkness. It is a small picture that feels much larger than its dimensions, because the eye has nowhere else to go but the creature.
About Ghost of a Flea
This is one of the strangest images William Blake ever set down, and it came from something he claimed to have witnessed directly: a visionary encounter with the spirit said to inhabit the bodies of bloodthirsty men. Blake worked as a poet, engraver, and painter across a single restless imagination, and his art rarely paused to observe the world as it appeared. Instead he painted the world as he believed it to be, governed by myth, prophecy, and private revelation. The Ghost of a Flea belongs to that inner territory, closer to a stage vision than a portrait.
The palette stays tight and controlled: deep browns and blacks broken only by the glint of scaled flesh and the pale curve of the bowl. That restraint is deliberate. Blake gives the figure just enough light to exist and no more, so the darkness around it feels active rather than empty. The composition has the compressed intensity of a theatre set, curtain and floorboards standing in for a whole cosmology, and the brushwork carries the tension of something built up slowly, layer by layer, rather than observed and recorded in a single sitting.
Our painters reproduce this density by hand, working in oil on canvas to match the tonal compression and the particular gleam of the scales, so the surface texture and brush direction of the original are preserved rather than flattened. This is an oil painting reproduction and a fine art reproduction in the fullest sense: a painted object built layer by layer, not a printed facsimile, made by a trained artist who understands how Blake built his darkness and his light.
The hand-painted reproduction
Live with this painting and it keeps working on you. The bowl catches your eye first, then the tongue, then the strange musculature of the legs, and each viewing rearranges what feels most unsettling. It rewards close, repeated looking in a way that few images this small manage to do.
- Hand-painted oil on canvas, not a printed copy
- Available in multiple sizes to suit your wall
- Gallery-ready presentation on arrival
- Certificate of authenticity included
- Free worldwide shipping, with no shipping charge to any country
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Each ByMuseum artwork is a hand-painted oil painting reproduction created by trained artists on high-quality cotton canvas. Every piece is reviewed, finished, and packed according to the framing option you select.
Empty walls flatten a room. A classical artwork restores structure and visual hierarchy. One painting defines the space, anchors furniture, and establishes identity.
Delivery in 3 to 4 weeks
Worldwide shipping included. Each painting is produced to order and safely packed for international transport.
100% secure payment
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Authentic hand-painted reproduction
Real brushwork, layered oil paint, and durable pigments on museum-quality canvas.
90-day money-back guarantee
If the result does not meet expectations, return it for a full refund.
Unframed — Rolled in Tube
Your artwork is painted on premium cotton canvas, then shipped safely rolled in a rigid tube with extra blank canvas border — ready for stretching or framing locally.
Framed — Ready to Hang
Select a handcrafted frame and we’ll deliver your painting fully assembled, protected, and ready to hang.
For safe shipping, framing is available up to a maximum size. Larger sizes will automatically disable the frame option.
Stretched Canvas
Choose “Stretched” to receive your canvas mounted on wooden stretcher bars — perfect if you’ll frame it later or display it as-is.
Gallery Wrap
Gallery Wrap is a deeper, 1.5" style stretcher. The canvas wraps around the sides and is stapled on the back for a clean, modern, frameless look.
Insured Express Delivery
We ship with UPS, FedEx, or DHL straight to your door. You’ll receive a tracking number as soon as your order leaves our studio. Typical delivery is 5 to 7 days after dispatch; large, framed, or stretched pieces may take longer depending on the safest shipping route.
Unframed canvases are protected with a film, carefully rolled, and secured inside a rigid shipping tube.
Stretched, Gallery Wrapped, and Framed paintings are wrapped, cushioned with foam protection, and boxed for safe transit.
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