Behemoth and Leviathan

William Blake · 1825
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Plate 15 of William Blake’s Job engravings (1825); this early proof on thin India paper is in Washington.

Blake puts the two creatures of God’s speech in a round frame, like a world seen through a lens: Behemoth, a tusked beast like a hippopotamus, on land, and the coiled Leviathan in the water below. Above, a figure leans out of the clouds and points down at them while Job and his friends look on.

From the text

“Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you” (Job 40:15)

“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?” (Job 41:1)

“he is king over all the proud”, engraved in the border (Job 41:34)

The artist’s own

Both creatures shown inside one round frame

Behemoth drawn like a hippopotamus with tusks — one reading among several

Details

Pointing down

A bearded figure leans out of the clouds and points.

Watching

Job, his wife and the friends kneel below him among stars.

Behemoth

A heavy tusked beast stands among reeds.

Leviathan

A huge coiled monster with scales lies in the water.

William Blake, British, 1757–1827. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Gift of W.G. Russell Allen, 1941.1.240) · Engraving on India paper (proof) · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)