Angel of the Revelation (Book of Revelation, chapter 10)

William Blake

ca. 1803–5 · Watercolor, pen and black ink, brush and wash, over traces of graphite · Drawings and Prints

This work comes from a series of eighty biblical watercolors that Blake made for Thomas Butts, an important patron. It depicts John, the author of the Book of Revelation, and his vision from the first line of chapter 10. The diminutive author, pen in hand, on the island of Patmos and gazes at a "mighty angel . . . clothed with a cloud . . . a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." The artist based the angel's water-spanning stance on prints of the ancient Colossus of Rhodes and envisioned the seven thunders described in the text as horsemen riding through clouds.

Artist

William Blake

Date

ca. 1803–5

Medium

Watercolor, pen and black ink, brush and wash, over traces of graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1914