Minneapolis Institute of Art

Then the Lord answered Job out of the Whirlwind

William BlakeLinkedCulture matchlcp-0b690e4fa6a3

Date

1825

Medium

Engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Object ID

46419

Finally, in the Whirlwind of the mystical ecstasy, the true God is manifest. He is Jesus, the Divine Imagination, and the Forgiveness of Sins: the only God whom Blake recognized. He is in a cruciform position and his right foot is forward. He descends below the cloud-barriers which normally separate the worlds. Job and his wife behold God with serene joy. To the right, Job's friends cannot see God because the blast blows them flat like the Forest of Error in the margin below. Job's pride is crushed at last; his life is made straight; his faith is confirmed. In the upper margin continues the circular motion of the Whirlwind. The figures are the six Eyes in their rotation; inevitably they have reached the seventh, who is Jesus, whose likeness is that of Job. England, Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.