The Rainbow and the Old Serpent

An armoured angel seizes a dark beast from a cloud while a pink serpent with a flaming head rears under a rainbow.

Work: Thesaurus thesaurorum et secretum secretissimum (Wellcome MS 4775)
Artist / creator: Unknown author and illustrator
Origin & date: Probably c. 1725 (catalogue date "[1725?]"); Latin, with additions in German verse
Held by: Wellcome Collection, London (MS 4775)

Format

The full-resolution color-managed file — yours to print, study, and keep.

Size

Sized to protect print quality — this scan’s resolution supports sizes up to 18x24 cleanly.

$24.00

The story

A rainbow arches over the top of the page. On a cloud to the right an armoured angel with red wings brings down a dark beast, and on the ground a long pink serpent rears up with flames for a head, flanked by black birds and a small fire. Two scriptures meet here: Revelation, Et apprehendit Draconem Serpentem antiquum, he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, and Genesis nine, Arcum meum ponam in nubibus, I set my bow in the cloud. Below, the words Transcensus Chaos confusi introduce two flasks, one marked Apparitio Iridis, the appearance of the rainbow, its liquid banded in colour. On page 34 the rainbow is a promise and a colour change in the same breath.

About this reproduction

Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from Wellcome Collection, London (MS 4775)’s open-access release.
Printed to order on archival cotton-rag stock, pigment inks rated 100+ years.
Color-managed to the source scan.
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Image courtesy of the Wellcome Collection, London, licensed CC BY 4.0.

In situ