Learn how the iconic album cover of Led Zeppelin IV was inspired by an antique painting of an old man with a bundle of sticks and a Tarot card. The cover also represents the band's balance between tradition and innovation, and their quest for the light of truth. Led Zeppelin's iconic fourth album was released 52 years ago today (November 8), and its cover art has been the subject of much conjecture in the decades since, with talk of runes, tarot and the occult. One of the greatest mysteries has been the identify of the painted figure on the front cover, a stooped man with a burden of sticks on his back. Led Zeppelin IV was a commercial and critical success upon its November 1971 release, producing many of the band's best-known songs, including "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", "Misty Mountain Hop", The album's cover artwork was radically absent of any indication of the band name or a title. The framed, coloured image of the stooped man, which has often been referred to as a painting, was

Jimmy Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as "the fourth album" but has also used Led Zeppelin IV. Robert Plant has always stayed true to the original course, Page spotted the typeface lettering in an advertisement in The Studio - an old Arts and Crafts magazine from the late 19th century. He found the lettering

Led Zeppelin tried just about every visual trick to make their album covers pop, from die cutting and revisionist history to sci-fi-inspired surrealism and mysterious symbols and objects. One of
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led zeppelin iv album art