William Blake
The watercolor we show today presents something quite disturbing—a cosmic battle between good and evil. The stakes are no less than the fate of humankind. This is how the romantic poet and artist William Blake was imagining the scene from the Book of Revelation. This 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 with 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.
Then, according to the Book of Revelation, 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.
A piece ideal for Monday. Have a great one!
P.S. You must see more of Blake's biblical watercolors! They present to the viewer an original vision of the Christian world.
P.P.S. Today is Lost Sock Memorial Day! Let's honor all the socks that are no longer with us and buy new Artsy DailyArt Socks. :) With the code LOSTSOCK you can get them with a 20% discount.