Catherine Blake

According to early biographers of Blake, Catherine immediately recognized him as her future husband, and when she sympathized with him over his earlier emotional troubles, he replied, "Do you pity me?

She was considered to be the foundation of Blake's "invariable type of woman" as depicted in his art, "tall, slender, and with unusually long legs".

[6] Throughout her husband's uneven career, Catherine not only took an active role in the production of William's engravings and illuminated books; she also ran the household finances and offered strong practical support.

"[4] Catherine's role in colouring at least some of William's illuminated books has been wide, although her hand is usually attributed to some of the more clumsily rendered passages.

In more recent literature, she is the central character in Janet Adele Warner's novel Other Sorrows, Other Joys: The Marriage of Catherine Sophia Boucher and William Blake (2001) and also features in Tracy Chevalier's novel Burning Bright (2007).

The play was later adapted for television in the BBC Two Encounters series (which featured similar fictionalized meetings between historical figures) and was first broadcast on 4 July 1993.

It was directed by Sebastian Graham-Jones and featured Mark Rylance as William, Bob Peck as Paine, and Lesley Clare O'Neill as Catherine.