Daniel's Vision of the Four Beasts

Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw

Engraved by H. Pisan, this wide plate shows a vision rather than an event. Almost the whole sheet is in shadow: the light comes only from a break in the clouds on the horizon and its glitter on the waves.

Daniel is a small dark figure on the rocks at the right, one arm stretched toward the sea. Out on the water rise the silhouettes of winged beasts, one with horns, one with a cat-like head, one with open jaws, under great bat-like wings. Waves break on the rocks below.

From the text

“the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea” (Daniel 7:2)

“four great beasts came up out of the sea” (Daniel 7:3)

The first was like a lion with eagle’s wings; the fourth had ten horns (Daniel 7:4, 7:7)

The artist’s own

Daniel himself standing on the shore; the text speaks of a vision in the night

The beasts as dark winged silhouettes, hard to tell apart one by one

A night sea lit only from a gap in the clouds

Details

The beasts

Winged shapes rise from the sea against the light.

Horns

One beast bristles with a crown of spikes.

Daniel

A dark figure on the rocks stretches out his arm.

The sea

Restless waves roll in toward the rocks.

Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 2, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1874 (acc. 75.267 A) · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.

The verses

Dan 7:2–8Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea. Then four great beasts came up out of the sea, each one different from the others: The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and given the mind of a man. Suddenly another beast appeared, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. So it was told, ‘Get up and gorge yourself on flesh!’ Next, as I watched, another beast appeared. It was like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.