published 1556
published 1607
published 1893
Here you straightway behold a Black Beast in the Forest.
Putrefaction.
The 1556 Figure has a black dragon with no wings. His tail coils round the tree trunk, and to the side there are three stumps of trees that have been cut down. The Knight’s shield is gold, with the Sun’s face.
The 1607 version does not have a dragon at all. The beast is a black canid, perhaps a wolf representing Saturn.
The 1893 version has a winged dragon. His tail does not coil around a tree; rather, it ends with a downward facing crescent.
The Alchemist is in the Nigredo phase. “The head of the Raven” alludes to the Ravenhead (Plate 6) in Splendor Solis, which also references the transition of black to white, Nigredo to Albedo.