Blake, william, featured paintings in detail (2)

BLAKE, William
Featured Paintings in Detail
(2)
(The Great Red Dragon Paintings)

BLAKE, William
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with
the Sun
c. 1805
Pen and gray ink with watercolor over graphite, 40.8 x
33.7 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

BLAKE, William
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with
the Sun (detail)
c. 1805
Pen and gray ink with watercolor over graphite, 40.8 x
33.7 cm

Three other watercolors of the Great Dragon passages appear in a series of works made by Blake between 1805 and 1809 that is based
on the book of Revelation. They are part of a larger group of tempera and watercolor paintings executed for Blake’s most important
patron, Thomas Butts.

BLAKE, William
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun
1803
Black ink and watercolor over traces of graphite and
incised lines, 43.7 × 34.8 cm
Brooklyn Museum, New York City

BLAKE, William
(detail)
1803
Black ink and watercolor over traces of graphite and
incised lines, 43.7 × 34.8 cm
Brooklyn Museum, New York City

BLAKE, William
The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea
c. 1805
Pen and ink with watercolor over graphite, 54.8 x 44
cm

BLAKE, William
(detail)
c. 1805
Pen and ink with watercolor over graphite, 54.8 x 44
cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C

BLAKE, William
The Number of the Beast is 666
1805
pen and ink and water color , 41.2 x 33.5 cm
Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia

BLAKE, William
The Number of the Beast is 666 (detail)
1805
pen and ink and water color , 41.2 x 33.5 cm
Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia

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BLAKE, William
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
A cosmic battle between good and evil unfolds in this dramatic watercolor by romantic poet and visionary artist William Blake. Sweeping lines cross the drawing and evoke the
zigzag flash of lightning, whoosh of a gale, and flap of wings, imbuing the scene with tension. The stakes are no less than the fate of humankind.
The book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, contains a series of warnings to Christians to maintain and guard their faith, then relates a series of allegorical
episodes that demonstrate the consequences of spiritual defection. Blake’s The Great Red Dragon and Woman Clothed in the Sun illustrates passages that describe “an enormous
red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads” who descends upon “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of
twelve stars on her head.” The dragon embodies Satan. His mission is to exact revenge on the woman who has given birth to a follower of God who will spread the Christian faith.
Sun bathes the woman’s figure and catches in the crescent sliver of moon on which she rests. Darkness and shadow fill the sky above like a storm cloud as the dragon’s wings stir
a great wind and sweep her hair upward, flamelike. Below, a rising deluge invoked by the dragon–intended to engulf the woman—overwhelms the figures of hapless souls. As the
devil hovers to witness her demise, God grants her wings that carry her to safety. Yet the powerful image of the dragon’s outstretched arms and hers arcing toward each other in
mirror image suggest that good and evil are a duality, like the dark and light sides of the moon, rather than completely independent forces.
The earth will open up to swallow the water, and the thwarted dragon will fly away to wage war against the woman’s progeny, the followers of God. For Blake, it is spiritual power—
the purity and goodness represented by the woman—that always prevails, however horrific the circumstances.

BLAKE, William
In this narrative the Dragon, identified with Satan, schemes to seize the soon-to-be born Redeemer from his mother. Derived from the Virgin Mary
of the Gospels, the figure known as the Woman Clothed with the Sun also stands for Israel and for the Church.
Blake's threatening Dragon displays powerful musculature as well as its monstrous tail, wings, and horned heads. Subsequent scenes reveal the
failure of the Dragon's plan but the emergence of new threats to mankind.

BLAKE, William
This painting depicts the passage literally, taken from Revelations.
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and
upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave
him his power, and his seat, and great authority. “
The seven-headed, ten-horned dragon stands above a beast emerging from the sea, also with seven heads and ten horns, wielding a sword in one hand
and a torch in the other. Interestingly, Blake’s beasts do not take a particularly animalistic form but are rather based on the human figure.

BLAKE, William
The Number of the Beast is 666
The design is based on Revelation 13:11-13, 18. The top half of the design is dominated by a dragon-like beast with the body of a man, a looping tail with two
loops, outstretched bat-like wings, and seven heads. He is nude and his muscular body faces forward and right. The figure sits on or perhaps is climbing a
large rock or mountain.
Seventeen stars appear on the wings of the creature in the top half of the design, eight on the left and nine on the right.
At the base of the boulder or mountain is a sheep with human forearms and hands. It has short, curly fur covering its body with the exception of its face and
human hands. Its arms are raised horizontally, palms held vertically. The scene takes place against the background of a dark night sky.
At the bottom center of the design sits another hybrid man/beast figure, facing away. It appears to have the body of a nude, muscular man. In its right hand it
holds a scepter with a top that resembles a fleur-de-lis. This figure appears to have five bald heads, four facing away. The central figure at the bottom of the
design sits on a rock that may have moss or lichen at its base; the rock itself is colored to suggest flames.
At the bottom right corner of the design, a mass of at least eleven figures kneels, facing left and down; the figure in the front left has curly hair, a beard, and
holds his arms horizontally, bent upward, with hands together in supplication or prayer. In the bottom left corner of the design kneels a group of at least
fourteen people. At least two figures have their arms bent upward with their hands together in a gesture of prayer or supplication.

BLAKE, William
was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now
considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His
prophetic works have been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of
poetry in the English language".
His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist
Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100
Greatest Britons. Although he lived in London his entire life (except for three years spent in Felpham),
he produced a diverse and symbolically rich œuvre, which embraced the imagination as "the body of
God" or "human existence itself".
Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high
regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical
undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the
Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic". Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of
England (indeed, to almost all forms of organised religion), Blake was influenced by the ideals and
ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake's work makes him difficult to classify.

Blake, william, featured paintings in detail (2)

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