In pictures: William Blake

Tate Britain is to re-stage William Blake's 1809 solo exhibition, reuniting nine of his surviving works 200 years after they were first displayed.

William Blake (1757-1827) was a poet, printmaker, visionary and artist whose work was both profoundly personal and universal.

In 1809, determined to make a name for himself as an artist, Blake held an exhibition of 16 works at his brother's shop in Golden Square, Soho, London.

But the exhibition was not a critical success, with only a single, negative review published in the press.

The Tate Britain exhibition will bring together nine of the surviving works from Blake's original show when it opens in April.

It will include works from the Tate Collection along with loans from the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Fitzwilliam Museum, and Southampton Art Gallery.

The display will also include a number of related works by Blake, and more conventional paintings displayed in other exhibitions in London in 1809 - including pictures by JMW Turner.

The free exhibition will open on 20 April and run until 4 October 2009.