Created by a man named William Blake in 1795, the painting of “Naomi and Ruth” depicts the scene of Naomi telling both Ruth and Orpah that she is leaving to go back to her homeland after the deaths of her sons. She tells them that they should return to their homeland, Moab, and be with their own families because she has nothing else to offer them now that her sons are deceased. Ruth clings to Naomi, refusing to leave her side, while Orpah weeps as she follows what Naomi has told her to do. All three women possess sorrow stricken faces, but Naomi’s sorrow seems to be more towards the loss of her sons because she neither clings back to Ruth or weep as Orpah does.

 During the time this painting was created, Britain had gone to war with France (1790s). The gloomy tones and focus on the sorrow of the women in the painting could possibly be attributed to the start of a war. The pain of people losing their loved ones could also be seen in how Orpah leaves Naomi’s side. The influence of this dramatic event on this specific painting of Blake’s does not seem so dramatic though. Although, it seems that Blake’s personal background is more influential than the things going on around him in Britain.

Blake was very religious, even as a child. He “was christened, married, and buried by the rites of the Church of England, but his creed was likely to outrage the orthodox”. He believed and stated that the Lord was a cruel individual, possibly also a reason for the drawn out sorrow in the women, but it was also stated that he supposedly had religious visions. He stated he saw angels in trees, the passing of his brother’s spirit as it left his body, and even an image of God’s face in a window. Not only was he a painter, but he was a poet as well and many of his works focused on these visions and Biblical texts he decided to interpret in his own way. This would be why he would have decided to make a piece based off of a Biblical text.

He also had strong women that held important roles in his life and seemed to follow a lot of the teachings of a “good woman” from the Bible itself. He was home schooled by his mother, like most children were. Similar to Ruth, Blake’s mother relocated after the death of her son and then her husband and remarried, later giving birth to Blake. He also had the influence of his wife, Catherine Sophia Boucher. She helped provide for them since Blake did not bring in very much with the work he was doing, his work was not well recognized until near the end of his life. Catherine was just another example of a strong woman for Blake to pull ideas from.