Nebuchadnezzar, 1795, William Blake, British, 1757-1827, 16 15/16 x 23 3/4 in. (43.0 x 60.3 cm) (sheet)23 3/4 x 29 3/4 x 1 1/8 in. (60.33 x 75.57 x 2.86 cm) (outer frame), Color monotype in tempera, finished with pen, black ink and watercolor on cream paper, England, 18th century, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon failed to heed the prophet Daniels warning to mend his sinful ways and show mercy to the poor. God stripped the king of his realm and drove him to 'eat grass as oxen, . . . his body . . . wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles feathers, and his nails like birds claws' (Daniel 4:33). Poet-painter William Blakes luminous exploration of depravity is part of his extended investigation of the Sublime, the irrational realm of visceral, overwhelming emotion—the flip side of the Enlightenment—where God and nature tower over even the most powerful human being.