The Beast with the Seven Heads and the Beast with Lamb's Horns

The Beast with the Seven Heads and the Beast with Lamb's Horns

Albrecht Dürer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In book thirteen of Revelation, John describes two beasts: one that emerges from the sea and has seven heads, and another that springs from the earth and empowers the bigger beast. The seven-headed beast with its ten crowns has been interpreted as the demonic and powerful authority of the state. As it says in Revelation, "They worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him . . . And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Beast with the Seven Heads and the Beast with Lamb's HornsThe Beast with the Seven Heads and the Beast with Lamb's HornsThe Beast with the Seven Heads and the Beast with Lamb's HornsThe Beast with the Seven Heads and the Beast with Lamb's HornsThe Beast with the Seven Heads and the Beast with Lamb's Horns

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.