And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. - Odilon Redon

A striking lithograph from Odilon Redon's 1899 Apocalypse series, capturing a spectral angel emerging from deep shadow.

This lithograph is part of the 'Apocalypse de Saint-Jean' series, a collection of twelve plates produced by Odilon Redon in 1899. The work interprets a passage from the Book of Revelation, depicting an angel descending to bind the abyss. Redon, a central figure in the Symbolist movement, moved away from the objective representation of the natural world to explore the internal realms of dreams, memory, and the subconscious. The composition is defined by a stark contrast between light and shadow. The figure of the angel emerges from a deep, velvety black void, a hallmark of Redon's 'noirs' period. The artist utilised the technical possibilities of lithography to create a range of grey tones, allowing the angel's wings and the metallic chain to catch the light against the surrounding darkness. The figure is rendered with a sense of weightless motion, its form partially obscured by the atmospheric gloom that characterises much of Redon's graphic output. Unlike his contemporaries who focused on the external world, Redon sought to give visual form to the unseen. The angel here is not a traditional religious icon but a spectral presence, existing in a space between reality and hallucination. The chain, rendered with precise, delicate lines, provides a physical anchor to the otherwise ethereal scene. This print demonstrates the artist's mastery of tonal gradation and his ability to evoke a sense of mystery through minimal means. The work remains a primary example of late nineteenth-century French printmaking, reflecting the period's fascination with the irrational and the metaphysical.