When I first learned about William Blake I was in high school, and my education on him was far from complete. I had known him from his poetry for which he was mostly famous, but until I saw a reference to one of his works of watercolor in a movie that I watched a few years ago. After seeing that movie, I did some more research and found more of William Blake's work and was instantly turned on to his style.
Part of the reason that this painting spoke to me is that it came from someone who I thought was known solely for his pieces of literature. Blake being so artistically rounded exemplifies the emphasis on inspiration and aesthetic common in the romantic period.
This piece of art showed to me that a person does not have to simply stick with one avenue to impress the world, but it stuck out to me because of its dark, eerie style and mysterious stance, showing only the rear of what horrible beast was described in revelations. The piece itself is not logical and does not appeal to any reasonable image that man would see in real life, but it is the basis on the unseen and the emotion, rather than a basis on the seen and factual, that defined romantic art and gave the world masterpieces such as this.
Photo Credit:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiNrcOG0cbeAhUC2IMKHY7wCK4QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AReddragon.jpg&psig=AOvVaw2K3PmcSXH-MU5idDiYmtzs&ust=1541829615427911
Wow, I had no idea that Blake had created those illustrations. I think it would be so powerful to read the book of revelations and then have it come to life as if you were John seeing it for the first time. The wars, the scrolls, all of the visual language would make it so interesting and worthwhile to illustrate
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