The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne

This watercolour by William Blake, executed in pencil and colour on paper around 1803 to 1805, gives visual form to a passage from the Book of Revelation: the vision of God's throne described in chapters four and five. Blake made it as part of a series of biblical scenes commissioned by his friend and patron Thomas Butts, a project he began around 1800. The use of pencil rather than pen and ink suggests to specialists that work on the piece started in 1803.

The design is strictly symmetrical. God sits at the centre on a throne framed by a rainbow that radiates from beneath a pointed arch made of angels' wings. He appears as an aged figure with a long white beard and red robes, holding a sealed book in his right hand while his left is raised in blessing. In front of him is the slain Lamb, with seven horns rendered as spikes fanning above its body, while seven cherub heads below refer to the seven Spirits of God, each crowned with a flame.

On either side float the twenty-four elders, of whom only four in each row are visible, bending toward the throne to lay down golden crowns. Above are the four living creatures, covered in eyes, with the Eagle and the Lion placed on opposite sides, both drained to a deathly pallor and set among distorted bird and animal heads. The Ox and the Angel sit behind the throne, barely visible within the pale crimson and violet rays.

The critic Martin Myrone has noted the role of numbers in the work, where multiplicity and unity merge into one another, a principle he saw as underpinning Blake's poetic vision. The painting is regarded as one of the most vivid examples of his output from these years, both for its colour and for its visionary reworking of the biblical text.

Painter

William Blake

Date

1805

Medium

graphite, paper, watercolor paint

Dimensions

35 × 29 cm

Museum

Tate, London

Genre

religious art

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