Nebuchadnezzar and the Creation of Dissedence :: Essays Papers

Nebuchadnezzar and the Creation of DissedenceThe artist of the section to be examined, Nebuchadnezzar, painted in 1795, is the Romantic poet, author, artist and theorist William Blake. I viewed the piece on Monday 27 September 1999 at the Tate Gallery in Westminster. The piece is a colour marking finished in ink pen and watercolour on paper. (See Figure 1) The subject of the piece is baron Nebauchadnezzar, ruler of the Babylonian empire from 605 to 562 B.C. The narrative behind the image is that of partly historical and partly mythological backround. The king is a factual person, tho the image which Blake depicts is from a story of Nebauchadnezzars dream and the allegorical interpretations of historical events in the Old Testaments Book of Daniel to illustrate the power of God. The story of King Nebauchadnezzar which the print depicts is that of one of the Kings dreams. The powerful Machiavellian king dreamed one darkness of a great tree growing from the earth. Th e tree produced abundant amounts of produce and it grew until its top reached heaven. A celestial being appeared in the Kings dream and ordered him to cut the tree down, leaving only its roots bound in iron and bronze in the grass. The same being then govern that the Kings mind be changed from a mans to a beasts. Because the King did not ascertain his dream, he called on the prophet Daniel to explain it. Daniel told him that Nebuchadnezzar was the strong tree in his dream. He interpreted the dream as being a decree from God that the mighty King who ruled without care for anyone but himself would be condemened to dwell with the beasts so that he would recognize Gods superior power.