Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Vision of Daniel

Luigi Sabatelli

Date

1809

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Old Testament prophet’s apocalyptic vision is described in Daniel 7:1-28. Sabatelli focused on verses 2-8: I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up out of the sea…. The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off.… And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear…. and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it…. [B]ehold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong…. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. The great Romantic etcher Luigi Sabatelli deploys his almost maniacally vigorous technique to convey the drama, wonder, and ferocious power of the prophet’s vision. Italy, Europe

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