Daniel's Vision

From the Getty Museum record

This spectacular large-scale drawing by the premier pre-romantic Italian artist Luigi Sabatelli represents Daniel’s apocalyptic vision from the Hebrew Bible (Daniel 7:1–28). Standing on the coast, the prophet encounters the four beasts emerging from the water: a lion with eagle wings, a bear, a winged leopard with four heads, and a beast with ten horns with a further small horn with eyes and a mouth, which uproots three of the ten. Above them, the Ancient of Days appears to carry out judgment. He destroys the fourth beast and strips the other three of their authority but lets them live. The Italian text underneath the drawing, in Sabatelli’s handwriting, is a biblical excerpt describing the beasts. Sabatelli meticulously rendered the drawing utilizing the graphic language of etching and engraving. Although in 1809 the artist created an etching of the same dimensions and composition, this drawing was not preparatory for the print but rather a finished work of art that would have been greatly cherished by collectors. Comparison with the etching reveals that while the outlines of the compositions correspond, the internal modeling is done independently.