The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev. 12: 1-4)

William Blake

Brooklyn Museum photograph

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In this visionary image derived from the New Testament, artist and poet William Blake expressed feelings about his own tumultuous era and the universal battle between good and evil. This watercolor became a cultural icon after its appearance in the 2002 movie Red Dragon, based on Thomas Harris’s 1981 novel introducing the character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Commissioned by his patron Thomas Butts to represent the books of the Bible, Blake created this watercolor based on a passage in the book of Revelation. The text refers to the appearance of “a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet” and “a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns.” In Blake’s interpretation, the muscular dragon, associated with Satan, looms menacingly over a radiant woman whose unborn child—humanity’s hope and salvation—the beast seeks to destroy. While Blake made three other paintings featuring the dragon, this is the only one in which the beast’s back dominates the composition, emphasizing the scale of evil that the dragon represents.

Object Label

After the French Revolution, artists such as the printmaker, painter, and poet William Blake drew subject matter from the biblical book of Revelation to contemplate the tumult of their era. This watercolor refers to the appearance of “a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet” and “a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns.” The dragon, identified with Satan, attempts to snatch a soon-to-be-born son from the frightened woman, who represents the Virgin Mary, Israel, and the church.

Though this imagery is highly personal, like much of Blake’s visionary poetry and art, it relates to his work as a reproductive engraver, borrowing its composition from a book illustration that he engraved after the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli in 1791.

This image emerged in contemporary popular culture when it appeared in the 2002 movie Red Dragon, tattooed on the back of a serial killer played by Ralph Fiennes.

Caption

William Blake British, 1757–1827. The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev. 12: 1-4), ca. 1803–1805. Black ink and watercolor over traces of graphite and incised lines on wove paper, Image: 17 3/16 x 13 11/16 in. (43.7 x 34.8 cm) Sheet (with inlay): 21 11/16 x 17 1/16 in. (55.1 x 43.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of William Augustus White, 15.368. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 15.368_SL1.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

European Art

Title

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev. 12: 1-4)

Date

ca. 1803–1805

Geography

Place made: England

Medium

Black ink and watercolor over traces of graphite and incised lines on wove paper

Classification

Watercolor

Dimensions

Image: 17 3/16 x 13 11/16 in. (43.7 x 34.8 cm) Sheet (with inlay): 21 11/16 x 17 1/16 in. (55.1 x 43.3 cm)

Signatures

Signed bottom right: Monogram "WB inv"

Inscriptions

Inscribed above the image: "A Woman clothed with the sun, & the moon under her feet, and/upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and behold a great red dragon also." Inscribed below the image at right: "Revns:ch:12th: v 4th:" Inscribed below the image: "And the tail of the great red dragon drew the third part of the stars of/heaven, and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the/woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born."

Credit Line

Gift of William Augustus White

Accession Number

15.368

Rights

No known copyright restrictions

This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • Did Blake ever provide his own commentary on this piece?

    Kind of! Between 1805-1810, Blake created over a hundred paintings illustrating scenes from the Bible. Among these was a four-painting cycle from the Book of Revelations, or The Apocalypse, in which John the Evangelist describes his vision of the end of the world.
    The closest thing we have to "commentary" is how Blake decided to interpret the relevant passages to depict the four-part cycle. Because in the Bible, the text describes “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, seeking to exact revenge on the woman who has given birth to a follower of God who will spread the Christian faith (i.e. Jesus).
    What's the consensus on Blake's fixation with apocalyptic biblical themes? As opposed to a Renaissance style?
    Tough question, but a good one. For Blake, the Bible was truly the most important and always-relevant, justified source of artistic inspiration, and he saw the Classical tradition (what I assume you mean by the Renaissance style) as false and pagan, as non-christian.
    Was he suffering from mental health issues? Or was it just need to depict biblical themes in a new way?
    I think Blake's was a deeply personal belief system, and if you look at his art works that combine text and image (such as the annotated print showing the ancient Laokoon sculpture, for example), you can really see that he does not think all images are fair game to draw inspiration from.
    Did he reject the biblical works created by da Vinci, Michelangelo etc? Blake's darkness in depicting Christian themes is what draws me to his work....similar to Bosch.
    "Neither character nor expression can exist without firm and determinate outlines," Blake is quoted as sayings; and you can relate that opinion to da Vinci's soft chiaro-scuro.
  • Can you give me any info on the Red Dragon by William Blake?

    While "Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun" is not currently on view, I can absolutely provide you with some information on the piece.
    The painting is one of a series of over one-hundred paintings Blake created based on scenes from the Bible. The passage he pulled from for this image goes as follows: “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 is a representation of Satan exacting revenge on a woman who has given birth to another follower of Christianity.

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