Largely unrecognised during his lifetime the influence of poet, painter and printmaker William Blake resonates to this day. Wordsworth thought Blake mad in a way that was more interesting than the sanity of Lord Byron or Walter Scott. In 1893 Yeats, who drew on him for inspiration, edited an edition of his collected works. His influence on the Beat poets of the 1950’s, the counterculture of the 1960’s, musicians like Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, U2 and Van Morrisson, film makers like Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott and writers like J.G. Ballard and Philip Pullman, is enormous. William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy at the National Gallery in Dublin until July 19, presents a selection of his most iconic works of art along with paintings and drawings by his contemporaries. The loan exhibition from Tate offers a rare opportunity in Ireland to encounter one of the most visionary and wildly unconventional figures in art and literature whose inventive works resonated far beyond his own era. Pictured here is The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve. Photo: Tate.