Fertilization of Egypt

William Blake after Henry Fuseli

National Gallery of Art

This print depicts a large person standing over a landscape with flowing water. The person is seen from the back, and they are standing with their legs wide, their feet on either side of a river. Their arms are raised to the sky, their hands clasped with the palms together. The person is nude except for a cloth wrapped around their waist. They appear to have the head of an animal, similar to a dog with large ears. Their snout is lifted to the sky, which is filled with clouds. There is a bright six-pointed star directly above the person's raised hands. Below the person, a large waterfall leads into the river at the bottom. At the top of the waterfall is the vague shape of a bearded man's head, with his arms stretched out to either side. The water seems to flow from his beard and arms. On the right side of the river, there are two pyramids, and on the left is an object that looks like the end of an oar or paddle with horizontal bars across it. Beyond the man in the waterfall, the landscape continues into rolling hills with some rivers or roads winding through them.