The number of the beast is 666

The Number of the Beast is 666 from 1805 continues Blake's series of Revelation illustrations, addressing the apocalyptic number and its associated imagery from Chapter 13. Blake saw in Revelation a code for understanding the spiritual history of humanity, interpreting its imagery not as literal prophecy but as a systematic account of the spiritual forces that determine historical experience. Blake's highly personal technique — combining watercolor, tempera, and sometimes relief etching — was inseparable from his visionary content; he worked outside the academic tradition, selling relatively little in his lifetime while creating some of the most original art of the Romantic era. The number 666, associated in Revelation with the Beast and the false prophet, was for Blake a symbol of the materialist philosophy and institutional religion he believed enslaved humanity's spiritual potential. Now at the Brooklyn Museum, this work is part of an American collection that has long recognized Blake's importance as a visionary artist whose influence on subsequent generations far exceeded his commercial success in his own lifetime.

The visionary composition combines precise figurative drawing with symbolic elements, Blake's characteristic technique of line and luminous wash creating an image of prophetic intensity.