Blake, 50 years older, became a profound influence on the autodidact Palmer, confirming his visionary instincts — Palmer was in many senses Blake’s disciple. They met through a mutual friend, John Linnell, an artist but also a patron of Blake’s, who became Palmer’s father-in-law; he mentored Palmer, without showing the same commitment as he did to Blake. One of Palmer’s sons, having written his biography, spent several days destroying much of his work in a well-meaning gesture (Palmer, having died decades earlier, had become a forgotten figure). Other artist-colleagues of Palmer’s were relatively minor characters.