Artist: Blake, William (British, 1757 – 1827)
Title: The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun: ‘The Devil is Come Down’
c. 1805
pen and ink with watercolor over graphite
1943.3.8999.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Student Curator Comments:
In this scene, Blake illustrates a dynamic standoff between two foes. The scene corresponds to verses from Chapter 12 of the final book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, which was written by John in late first century. Here a grey and red multi-headed dragon hovers ominously over a luminous, tangerine-yellow woman. She is great with child, clothed with the sun, and seated atop a crescent moon. Both figures bear unfurled wings and mirror one another with their outstretched arms. The intense colors of this image remain striking even though this popular watercolor has faded due to exposure to light over the past two centuries.

Blake’s inscriptions framing this image — “The Devil is Come Down” (top) “And … Serpent” (bottom) — identify the dragon as an incarnation of evil. This identification is in keeping with most theological understandings of the winged beast in John’s Apocalypse.  In the complex symbolism of Revelations, the woman adorned with the sun and moon has been interpreted by biblical scholars as an incarnation of the persecution and salvation of God’s people in the Old and New Testament. Since the Middle Ages, she has also been associated with the image of the Virgin Mary glorified as Queen of Heaven. While the artist’s religious and personal views make an overt Marian reference unlikely, it seems likely that Blake intended her to be a symbol of oppression and deliverance.

The woman is flanked by dramatic zigzagging lines. They stand for torrential floodwaters sent by the dragon to carry the woman away in the beast’s final and most futile attempt at destroying her (Rev. 12: 15-16). The scene concludes in verse 17: “Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children.” Theologically, we are invited to consider ourselves among the woman’s offspring; like her, we are threatened by evil. Therefore, it is appropriate – and if you think about it, rather frightening — that the dragon rockets towards us.