Depicting Monsters

Describing monsters in a text is a balance between including extensive detail and leaving gaps for the imagination. A writer wants to include enough detail that you can start picturing the beast in your mind. At the same time, leaving gaps in the detail adds to the mystery of monsters, giving them that sense of eeriness. As such, each generation can imagine and depict monsters in new ways, based on their central concerns. To think about this connection, this section explores depictions of the four beasts from Daniel 7 across a four-hundred-year period. Since the beasts of Daniel are well-known and popular, humans return to them often, asking new questions about their existence. These images show how groups depicted the same monsters in different ways. As we will see in the rest of the exhibition, we can say something similar about many of the monsters we encounter.

Die gantze Bibel: das ist alle Bücher allts unnd neüws Testaments den ursprünglichen spraachen nach auffs aller treüwlichest verteütschet

Zürich: Christoph Forschauer (1536)

1536 BIBL V. 2, p. 163

This illustration from a 1536 Zurich Bible focuses its attention on the beasts themselves. As such, it emphasizes specific details from Daniel’s description. For instance, we see the second beast from the left eating three people, reflecting a command from Daniel 7:5. This  helps put an image to what Daniel saw when the text is too obscure. This is especially important for the fourth beast on the far right. The text only describes this beast as different from the others. The illustrator helps fill that gap, helping their readers picture the beast despite the obscure description.

Eine Heerpredigt Wider den Türcken

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Wittenberg: Nickel Schirlentz (1542)

1542 LUTH F, p. B

This illustration goes beyond depicting the beasts as an aid to the imagination. The illustrator has also drawn on the interpretation of Daniel’s dream that each beast represents a king rising from the earth. This image helps introduce Luther’s interpretation of the potential Turkish invasion of Germany using the text of Daniel 7. In this text, Luther uses the language of a Daniel to describe a battle between the armies of God and the monsters of the devil. While he acknowledges the Turks as a threat, the text of Daniel is an assurance that Germany will be safe.

La Saincte Bible, contentant le Vieil et Nouveav Testament

Paris: Pierre Variquet (1683)

1683 BIBL A, p. 642

L’historie du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament

Nicholas Fontaine (1625-1709)

Paris: Pierre le Petit

1670 FONT, p. 317

One of the challenges in depicting Daniel's vision, is deciding how to show that it is a dream. This question has important implications for how we interpret the monsters. We usually find it easier to dismiss dreams than something from real life. So, it is a question of whether these beasts exist in the world. These two illustrations make an effort to show the dream-like nature of the beasts. In La Saincte Bible, we see Daniel with the beasts resting on a cloud behind his head. This pushes them into a realm beyond our own, especially in contrast to the landscape around his feet. L'historie du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament instead shows Daniel asleep in bed.

Biblia: Das ist die gantze Heilige Schrift, Alten und Neuen Testaments

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Nürenberg: Leonhard Buggel, Bookseller (1702)

1702 BIBL D, p. 228

Daniel's text describes each beast as a king of earth that would rule for a period of time until "the Ancient One" came. A common interpretation is that these represent the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires. These are four of the great empires that controlled the Holy Land between Daniel and the birth of Jesus. As such, this interpretation helps set Jesus apart as the prophesied Ancient One. To show this, the illustrator has named each of the beasts after these empires. That interpretation would then have an influence on anyone who saw this image.

The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments: According to the Authorized Version

Gustave Doré, illustrator (1832-1883)

London: Cassell, Peter, and Galpin (1872)

1872 HOLY V. 2, p. 1050

This image of Daniel's dream comes from Gustave Doré’s Biblical illustrations of the 19th Century. Doré sets aside the specific details and interpretations of the text. Instead, he captures the awe and terror one might have upon receiving this vision. Daniel here is not safe in his bed, but upon an unstable cliff above a threatening sea. Adding to the danger are the four monstrous silhouettes rising from the sea. These monsters do not have much detail, and from what we can see, Doré seems to have taken some creative liberties. Yet, they give us a sense of that eeriness we would experience in this situation.