The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne
This post is a comment on Man Walks Forth.
It relates to the 14 chapter of Revelation where the sickle brings forth to fire and destruction.
The commentary on this picture by the owner, the Tate Museum suggests that it relates to the 4th, rather then the 14 chapter of Revelation.
Rev 4:2-6:
2] And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
[3] And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
[4] And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
[5] And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
[6] And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne,
[3] And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
[4] And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
[5] And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
[6] And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne,
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne c. 1803–5. |
Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne is a pencil drawing and watercolour on paper by the English poet, painter and printmaker William Blake. Created circa 1803–1805, the drawing has been held in London's Tate gallery since 1949. It is likely a visionary and hallucinatory summary of scenes from Chapters 4 and 5[1] of the Book of Revelation when the throne of God was presented to the prophet Saint John the Divine.
Saint John described the scene,
- before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal... round about... were four beasts full of eyes... The four and twenty elders fall down before him... and worship him that liveth for ever and ever.
Blake's depiction was created as part of a commission of biblical watercolours for his friend and patron[4] Thomas Butts. The artist began to work on Butts's series around 1800. For stylistic reasons—including the use of pencil instead of pen and ink—it is generally believed by scholars that Blake began work on the piece sometime in 1803.[5] Paintings and drawings from the series are typically characterised by intense displays of colour andThe Four and Twenty Elders is generally held as one of the most vivid examples of Blake's output from the period.[6]
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In Revelation, Saint John wrote,
- And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment: and they had on their heads crowns of gold.[9]
A row of twelve white-clad bearded figures float on either side of the Deity, although only four figures from each row are visible to the viewer of the panel. Each figure bends towards God, in adoration, to lay a golden crown at his feet.[9] Above the head of God are the Four Beasts, "full of eyes before and behind".[2][11] Above and to the left of God perches the Eagle, opposite of whom is the Lion. Both are portrayed with the pallor of death and both are situated beneath the distorted heads of monstrous birds and animals. The Ox and Angel are positioned behind the throne and peer outwards, according to the Blake collector W. Graham Robertson, "dimly [and] half hidden in the pale crimson and violet rays which emanate from the central figure, and shoot up to meet and be absorbed in the over-arching rainbow."[12]
There are many uses of numerical symbolism in The Four and Twenty Elders, and according to the Blake scholar Martin Myrone, "the way, as with [Blake's] Ezekiel's Wheels, that multiples and unities meld into one another, underpinned Blakes own poetic conceptions."[6]
The painting was first passed to Butts and upon his death was bequeathed to his son. In 1906, it passed to W. Graham Robertson for £6,720. Following Robertson's passing, the panel was sold at auction at Christie's to the Tate in 1949, with financial assistance from the National Art Collections Fund.[13][14]
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