The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea William Blake Buy Art Prints Now
from Amazon

* As an Amazon Associate, and partner with Google Adsense and Ezoic, I earn from qualifying purchases.


by
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000

William Blake has created a legacy in the art industry through his intriguing paintings such as the Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea. His paintings are based on bible stories as well as his poets. This painting is well displayed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

As the Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea were created in 1805. It entails a symbolism style where every symbol depicts a specific message. The painting has a great red dragon representing the warnings given to the Christians from the book of Revelation. As a romantic poet and talented painter, William Blake depicts the seven-headed and ten-horned dragon as the devil while the neat emerging from the Sea also has seven heads, a welding sword, ten horns, and a torch. The painting is spectacular, representing Christian faith and the battle between evil and good as predicted in the bible. It is used by christens to illustrate what is written in the bible.

Blake used illuminated printing as well as the watercolor, combining different colors to provide a spectacular final product. In this case, the pen and ink outlines become more spontaneous. His paintings remain intact for long without fading. William Blake planed his art by reading the stories in the bible to have a clear view of what to depict. Moreover, he produces a printing plate’s back-to-front then simultaneously as well as used nitric acid to elude the spaces. Also, Blake employed different unconventional materials for this painting, making it elegant.

William Blake created Satan Smiting Job with sore Boils, The Good and Evil Angels, The ghost of a Flea, the House of Death, Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, Elohim Creating Adam, Nebuchadnezzar, Behemoth and Leviathan and the Body of Abel Found by Adan and Eve. The stories in the bible inspired William Blake as well as his passion for the Christian faith. He insists on individual imagination as well as inspiration for this piece. Moreover, he was impaired by his peers in the Romantic Literature Percy Bysshe and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

William Blake created the Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea after being inspired by the warnings given to the Christians in the book of Revelation. His talents are well represented in these paintings as he used a unique technique to depict the battle existing between good and evil.