William BlakeBritish, 1757–1827Behold now Behemoth which I made with thee
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Minneapolis Institute of Art
Minneapolis, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
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- In this state since
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- The museum
About the work
Here, God explains the mystery of the incessant warfare in the human world. He reaches down through the cloud-barrier with his left hand to indicate Behemoth and Leviathan. These two creatures exist in man himself; God proclaims to Job Behold now Behemoth which I made with thee. (Job xl: 15-24; lxi: 1-34). The cloud-barrier of Job's world includes the sphere in which they exist; it is a picture of the subconscious, the unredeemed portion of psyche, which the bulrushes identify as Egypt-the unredeemed portion of mankind. These are the terrible forces within man, against which he seems helpless: the War by Sea enormous and the War by Land astounding, erecting pillars in the deepest Hell to reach the heavenly arches (Blake, Jerusalem, 91: 39-42). They also function as a means of God's providence.
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Behemoth is the chief ways of God: warfare of the spirit is one of the chief joys of Eternity, though when materialized on earth it is rendered deadly (Milton 34: 50-52; 35: 2-3). Leviathan is King over all the Children of Pride-that is, over all unredeemed mankind. His name means coiled, and therefore he is depicted as having a huge spiral, representing the everlasting repetitions in the round of nature.
At the upper corners, angels write the laws of the universe; at the lower corners are the eagles which Urizen sends forth in his work of creation (The Four Zoas ii: 150). Below are the emptied shells of the mortal bodies which are grown by man's spirit and then abandoned on the margin of the Sea of Time and Space.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- P.5, 877
In the catalog
Sources
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art — public domain
Meanwhile, in the life of William Blake
The whole lifeby the time of death (1827)
Fewer than thirty copies of the “Songs” sold
At the time of his death Blake had sold fewer than 30 copies of “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”: he was largely unrecognised during his life.
12 August 1827
His last day: a portrait of Catherine and hymns
On 12 August 1827 Blake worked relentlessly on his Dante series until the end; then, it is reported, he asked his weeping wife to stay as she was and drew her portrait (“you have ever been an angel to me”; the portrait is lost), began to sing hymns and verses, and at six that evening, after promising her that he would be with her always, died.
12 August 1827
Died
