The Story
The Apocalypse, properly Apocalypse with Pictures (Latin: Apocalipsis cum figuris; German: Die heimliche Offenbaru[n]g ioh[an]nis), is a 1498 printed book by Albrecht Dürer containing fifteen woodcuts accompanied by text. The book depicts scenes from the Book of Revelation, and rapidly brought Dürer fame across Europe. These woodcuts likely drew on theological advice, particularly from Johannes Pirckheimer, the father of Dürer's friend Willibald Pirckheimer.
Work on the book started during Dürer's first trip to Italy (1494–95), It was published in both Latin and German at Nuremberg in 1498, at a time when much of secular Europe feared an invasion of the Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe anticipated a possible Last Judgment in the year 1500. Dürer was the publisher and seller of this series, and became the first artist to publish a book and create a copyright. Considering the 15 woodcuts, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (c.
Executed in woodcut, measuring Sheet: 29.3 x 20.8 cm (11 9/16 x 8 3/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Albrecht Dürer builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
