Jean Duvet
French, 1485-after 1561
The Beast with Seven Heads
INV-4406
Jean Duvet
French, 1485-after 1561n.d.
The Beast with Seven Heads
Jean Duvet French, 1485-after 1561 →engravingprint
Date
n.d.
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 30 × 29 cm (11 13/16 × 11 7/16 in.); Sheet: 34.7 × 25.3 cm (13 11/16 × 10 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.
John’s vision from Revelation 13 pits the Lamb of God against a seven-headed, ten-horned apocalyptic beast of epic proportions. While an angel runs interference to warn the credulous earthly population against worshipping the beast, it is only the true believers in Christ who will survive. Duvet’s dense composition of quivering scales and genuflecting masses breaks open only at the top to reveal the true Christian sacrificial symbol, the Lamb. Bearing the attributes of the evangelist, this mild and just creature is both the apocalypse’s antithesis and antidote.
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