The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea

c. 1805

William Blake

Artist, British, 1757 - 1827

William Blake

A nude, muscular man with pale mauve-pink skin and seven human heads straddles a blue-skinned creature with seven beast-like heads in this vertical ink and watercolor illustration. The body of the Great Red Dragon, the creature with mauve skin, and his outstretched, webbed wings nearly fill the composition. The wings are spotted with silver, five-pointed stars. Rams’ horns scroll from his central head and some of the smaller heads to each side. Two of the outer heads have horns like unicorns but the faces are obscured by others in front. He stands with knees slightly bent and feet widely planted on choppy waters. His arms are thrust straight by his sides so the palms face down and the fingers flare outward. Fins jut out from next to his right knee and ankle, to our left. The second creature, the Beast from the Sea, is between the Great Red Dragon’s legs, sunk up to the chest in the white-crested water. The Beast looks up at the Great Red Dragon with all seven, equally sized heads. These heads also have straight or curling horns but exaggerated, thick lips and feline-like noses. The Beast raises both arms so one is in front of one of the Great Red Dragon’s legs and the other is behind. The Beast holds up a flaming sword with the right hand, to our left, and a flaming object, perhaps a scepter or torch, in the other hand. The background behind the pair is inky black. The artist signed the lower right, “WB inv.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and ink with watercolor over graphite

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    Overall: 40.1 x 35.6 cm (15 13/16 x 14 in.)
    support: 54.8 x 44 cm (21 9/16 x 17 5/16 in.)
    mat: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8997

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Butlin 1981, no. 521

  • Series Title

    Bible for Thomas Butts

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Marsden J. Perry (Lugt 1880), LJR (Lugt Supp.1760b)

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1905

  • Books, Engravings, Water-Colors & Sketches by William Blake, Grolier Club, New York, 1905, no. 90c.

1919

  • William Blake, Grolier Club, New York, 1919-1920.

1930

  • Illustrated Books and Original Drawings by William Blake, loaned by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Print Club of Philadelphia, 1930, no. 15.

  • Works of William Blake, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA, 1930.

1936

  • Books and Works of Art by William Blake, 1757-1827, Little Museum of La Miniatura, Pasadena, CA, 1936, no. 6.

1939

  • William Blake (1757-1827), Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1939, no. 175.

1947

  • Prints and Drawings by William Blake, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1947, no cat.

1953

  • Flight, Fantasy, Faith, Fact: A Loan Exhibition Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Powered Flight, Dayton Art Institute, OH, 1953-1954, no. 93.

1957

  • Grolier Club, New York, 1957.

  • The Art of William Blake, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1957, no. 16.

1965

  • William Blake, Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1965, no. 30.

1966

  • Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1966, no cat.

1968

  • Romantic Art in Britain: Paintings and Drawings 1760-1860, Detroit Institute of Arts and Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1968, no. 95, repro.

1970

  • William Blake's Graphic Art from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1970, no cat.

1973

  • The Apocalypse, University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, 1973, no. 33, repro.

1978

  • William Blake, Tate Gallery, London, 1978, no. 188, repro.

1982

  • William Blake: His Art and Times, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT; and Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1982-1983, no. 82, repro.

1987

  • English Drawings and Watercolors, 1630-1850, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1987-1988, no cat.

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

1999

  • The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, British Museum, London, 1999, p. 256 (no. 30).

2002

  • La peinture comme crime, Museé du Louvre, Paris, 2001-2002, 112-114,344 n. 2, 358, no. 70.

2006

  • The Artist's Vision: Romantic Traditions in Great Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2006 - 2007

2019

  • William Blake, Tate Britain, London, 2019-2020, no. 75, repro.

Bibliography

1975

  • Fine 1975, IV.A.11.

1978

  • Butlin, Martin. William Blake. Exh. cat. Tate Gallery, London, 1978: 188.

1981

  • Butlin, Martin. The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.

1982

  • Bindman, David. William Blake: His Art and Times. Exh. cat. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. London, 1982: 82.

1993

  • Thompson, E.P. Witness against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law. Cambridge, Eng., 1993: fig. 20.

1998

  • Denny, Don. "Apocalypse." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 1:43.

Inscriptions

lower right: WB inv; lower right on mount in copperplate hand: Revens: Ch:13th: v. I: & 2:; across top: (title); across bottom: And ... authority

Wikidata ID

Q20171507

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