Sunday, January 04, 2015

Nebuchadnezzar


In the 1790s 

William Blake made a series of prints on oppression. One of them was about the great Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar by Blake
wiki common

From Wikipedia:


Nebuchadnezzar is a colour monotype print 
with additions  ink and watercolour portraying the Old Testament Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II by the English poet, painter and printmaker William Blake. Taken from the Book of Daniel , the legend of Nebuchadnezzar tells of a ruler who through hubris lost his mind and was reduced to animalistic madness[ and eating "grass as oxen".
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream he did not understand so he asked his Jewish advisor Daniel to explain it. Summarized Daniel said he would be punished, and the punishment would end after seven years when he would acknowledge the supreme power in heaven.

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This picture is connected with Blake's personal journey, which he described in a letter to Hayley.
Blake had this to say about Nebu:
"Nebuchadnezzar had seven times passed over him; I have had twenty; thank God I was not altogether a beast as he was; but I was a slave bound in a mill among beasts and
devils these beasts and these devils are now, together with myself, become children of light and liberty. and me feet and my  wife's feet are free from fetters."

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