William Blake's influence on Samuel Palmer's paintings…

William Blake's influence on Samuel Palmer's paintings can be seen in the works he produces over the next ten years or so, which are generally reckoned to be his greatest.

These works are of landscapes around Shoreham, near Sevenoaks in the west of the county of Kent.

Palmer, born in Newington, London in Surrey Square off the Old Kent Road, is the son of a bookseller and sometime Baptist minister, and had been raised by a pious nurse.

Palmer painted churches from around age twelve, and first exhibited Turner-inspired works at the Royal Academy at the age of fourteen.

He has little formal training, and has no formal schooling, although he was educated briefly at Merchant Taylors' School.

He had met William Blake in 1824 through John Linnell.