John Bingley Garland (1791-1875) was a prosperous English merchant, politician, public servant, and collage artist. He had put together a manuscript of forty-five “Blood Collages” often referred to as the ‘Victorian Blood Book’. All likely executed in the 1850s, 62 years before the medium of collage was officially “invented” by Picasso or Braque. Material used are collages of engravings, gold paper with gouache, and gold paint with extensive inscriptions in pen and ink on buff backing paper. Its decoupage was assembled from several hundred engravings, many taken from books of etchings by William Blake, as well as other illustrations from early nineteenth-century books. He would meticulously cut and assemble hundreds of prints as source material to create astonishing, visionary collages. The works include extensive inscriptions of religious texts, gold and blue paper, painted gouache, and his signature drops of blood made with diluted red ink. It also contains many symbols bleeding doves and crosses, red ankhs (Egyptian hieroglyph symbolizing life), serpents, skulls, stars, eggs—mixed with Christian and pagan imagery, architecture and ruins, sculpture, and archaeological fragments. These mysterious and spiritual works are free to download and use under the CC0 license.
John Bingley Garland (1791-1875) was a prosperous English merchant, politician, public servant, and collage artist. He had put together a manuscript of forty-five “Blood Collages” often referred to as the ‘Victorian Blood Book’. All likely executed in the 1850s, 62 years before the medium of collage was officially “invented” by Picasso or Braque. Material used are collages of engravings, gold paper with gouache, and gold paint with extensive inscriptions in pen and ink on buff backing paper. Its decoupage was assembled from several hundred engravings, many taken from books of etchings by William Blake, as well as other illustrations from early nineteenth-century books. He would meticulously cut and assemble hundreds of prints as source material to create astonishing, visionary collages. The works include extensive inscriptions of religious texts, gold and blue paper, painted gouache, and his signature drops of blood made with diluted red ink. It also contains many symbols bleeding doves and crosses, red ankhs (Egyptian hieroglyph symbolizing life), serpents, skulls, stars, eggs—mixed with Christian and pagan imagery, architecture and ruins, sculpture, and archaeological fragments. These mysterious and spiritual works are free to download and use under the CC0 license.