Editing William Blake (section)

== Marriage and collaboration with Catherine Boucher ==
In 1781 William met [[Catherine Blake|Catherine Boucher]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Blake - Marriage to Catherine Boucher {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Blake/Marriage-to-Catherine-Boucher |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> when he was recovering from a relationship that had culminated in a refusal of his marriage proposal. He recounted the story of his heartbreak for Catherine and her parents, after which he asked Catherine: "Do you pity me?" When she responded affirmatively, he declared: "Then I love you". William married Catherine, who was five years his junior, on 18 August 1782 in [[St Mary's Church, Battersea]]. Illiterate, Catherine signed her wedding contract with an X. The original wedding certificate may be viewed at the church, where a commemorative stained-glass window was installed between 1976 and 1982.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://home.clara.net/pkennington/VirtualTour/windows_modern.htm#Blake | title = St. Mary's Church Parish website | quote = St Mary's Modern Stained Glass }}</ref> The marriage was successful and Catherine became William's "partner in both life and work", undertaking important roles as an engraver and colourist. According to the Tate Gallery, Catherine mixed and applied his paint colours.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last1=Thorpe |first1=Vanessa |last2=Arts |first2=Vanessa Thorpe |last3=correspondent |first3=media |date=7 September 2019 |title=How William Blake's wife brought colour to his works of genius |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/sep/07/william-blake-wife-catherine-brought-colour-works-of-genius-tate-britain |access-date=25 June 2024 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> One of Catherine Blake's most noted works is the colouring of the cover of  the book ''[[Europe a Prophecy|Europe: A Prophecy]].''<ref name=":1" /> William Blake's 1863 biographer, [[Alexander Gilchrist]], wrote, "The poet and his wife did everything in making the book – writing, designing, printing, engraving – everything except manufacturing the paper: the very ink, or colour rather, they did make."<ref name=":1" /> In 2019 [[Tate Britain]]'s Blake exhibition gave particular focus to Catherine Boucher's role in William Blake's work.<ref>{{cite web |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |date=7 September 2019 |title=How William Blake's wife brought colour to his works of genius |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/sep/07/william-blake-wife-catherine-brought-colour-works-of-genius-tate-britain |access-date=12 January 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>