The visual art of J.R.R. Tolkien which, has until recently, been overshadowed by his literary texts, ‘deserves to be as well known as his writings’ (Hammond and Scull), appears to have started an emergence of the acknowledgment of Tolkien's art with the publications of LotR and Sil, both with the author’s illustrations. Through research of ‘indirect artistic’ links between the art of William Blake and Tolkien, it is clear that much of Tolkien's art has Romantic tendencies. ‘The Book of Thel’ and ‘Mirkwood’ appear to be very different but closer examination suggests that each is a piece of Romantic art. Tolkien's ‘definition of the Imagination…foregrounds the visual’ (MacLeod and Smol) suggests that the gate of ‘Faërie’ has much in common with Blake’s ‘doors of perception’. By comparing Blake’s and Tolkien's artwork we can explore this Romantic tendency in their art, and perhaps it is time that we perceived their artwork differently so that we may (re)enter Faërie in our own reality.
