The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea
c. 1805
Medium
pen and ink with watercolor over graphite
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.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.8997
Art Historical Context
William Blake's *The Great Red Dragon and Beast from the Sea* (c. 1805) is a mesmerizing vision from the Book of Revelation in the Bible, capturing the apocalyptic moment when a seven-headed red dragon emerges from the sea alongside a blasphemous beast. Created during Blake's mature period as a Romantic visionary artist and poet, this work belongs to a renowned series of watercolors illustrating Revelation's dramatic prophecies. Housed in the National Gallery of Art'swald Collection, it measures about 40 x 36 cm, its intimate scale inviting close contemplation of its symbolic intensity. Blake...
About the Artist
William Blake · 1757–1827
William Blake (1757–1827) stands as one of the most visionary and unconventional artists in British history, a poet-painter-printmaker whose mystical imagination and radical vision profoundly shaped the Romantic movement. Born in London's Soho district, Blake experienced visions from childhood—claiming to see angels in trees at age eight—and these spiritual encounters would guide his art throughou...