Getty Museum

The Defeat of the Beast

Date

about 1255–1260

Medium

Tempera colors, gold leaf, colored washes, pen and ink

Culture

English

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

This last image from the Dyson Perrins Apocalypse depicts the triumph of the army of heaven over the forces of Satan. The warrior on the white horse directs the disposal of the beast and the false prophet who are "thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur." (Apocalypse 19:20) The beast's hind paws and the false prophet's cloven hooves disappear as they are thrown, kicking, into a hole in the earth. Two soldiers aid their descent to the burning lake, one with his foot firmly planted on the beast's backside to give a final push. Although this miniature is now at the very end of the manuscript, it would originally have been followed by a number of additional illuminations. These missing miniatures would have covered the last three chapters of the Apocalypse, which describe the final victory over Satan, the Last Judgment, and Saint John's vision of the heavenly Jerusalem.

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