Francis Hayman Reading Paradise Lost in the 1740s

Francis Hayman's designs for Paradise Lost, which first appeared in Thomas Newton's 1749 edition, offer subtle editorial comment especially about the relationship of Adam and Eve. In the context of Hayman's other illustrations and his association with David Garrick and William Hogarth, it seems likely that the artist read the text closely. Particularly in the designs for books 4, 5, 7, and 8, Hayman sheds light on the complex gender issues of Milton's epic by seeming to read Adam as possessive. More generally, the artist suggests how the complex psychology of the Fall might have been read in the 1740s.