Apocalipsis cum Figuris

Apocalypse with Pictures; or The Revelations of St John

Illustrated by Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer's suite of illustrations known as the Apocalypse were first published in 1498 under the title

Apocalipsis cum Figuris. For that seminal 1st Edition, the set of 15 plates was published simultaneously in Latin and

German.

Based upon the Biblical "Book of Revelation", wherein the destruction of the wicked, the overthrow of Satan and

the establishment of a new kingdom of Christ is dealt with in florid allegorical fashion, Apocalipsis cum Figuris

included some of Dürer's most powerful illustrations.

The impact that the publication of this series had on Dürer's career is noted by Knackfuss (Durer: H Grevel & Co,

London; 1900):

It was not his portraits, however, nor his religious pictures, but a series of woodcuts,

which made Albrecht Dürer famous far and wide at quite an early age ... [i]n 1498

Dürer published the Revelations of St John the Divine with Latin and with German

text and fifteen woodcuts of large dimensions. In the choice of this subject he fell in

with the mood of the age. The excited spirits o that period, a period disquieted

within itself, still striving, without a definite aim, for something new, had a peculiar

love for the study of the mysterious prophecies of the Apocalypse, so diversely

interpreted.

But to him, the artist fired with the creative impulse, this book offered the richest

field for his inexhaustible imagination. As a draughtsman he could follow the author

in his fantastic visions with a flight of fancy no less bold that his. Thus he put into

visible shape the obscure prophetic utterances of the Evangelist in such a masterly

and poignant style as the world had never seen or dreamed of until then. His work

was something perfectly new, a "revelation" of art. Even at the present day these

designs with their tremendous energy and spiritual significant can never fail to be

impressive.

Knackfuss also notes the significant technical innovation that was characteristic of this set of woodcuts:

It is not only the unprecedented and unsurpassed grandeur and boldness of invention

that give their great important to Dürer's designs for the Apocalypse. To the artistic

value of these woodcuts must be added the special place which they occupy in the

history of art. They signify the most important turning-point in the development of

wood-engraving. Hitherto woodcuts had to be coloured before they could pass for

finished pictures. Dürer made his drawings which were intended for cutting in such a

way that there was no need of any such addition; he was the first to introduce

contrast of light and shade in drawings on wood by using close cross-hatching, and

by this method of drawing with a certain degree of "colour" he produced the effect

of a finished picture in a way which rendered any reinforcement with actual colouring

quite superfluous.

Our Greeting Cards and Reproduction Prints

For connoisseurs, we have prepared sets of 15 Greeting Cards displaying each of the images from Dürer's The Apocalypse and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting Cards appear. Ordering one of those sets is as easy as selecting the "Add to Cart" feature below and following the prompts provided with our Shopping Cart secured through PayPal. Multiple purchases will be consolidated by that feature and shipping and handling costs to any destination in the world are accommodated by our flat-rate fee of US$20 for every US$200 worth of purchases.     Code: AD A MS(15) Price: US$75.00

When presented on Greeting Cards, these images are prepared as tipped-on plates - in hommage to the hand-crafted

approach typical of prestige illustrated publications produced in the early decades of the 20th Century. Each card is

hand-finished and the images are presented on White card stock with an accompanying envelope. On the rear of each

card we also present some information about this great work and each individual illustration. We have left the interior

of the cards blank so that you may write your own personal message.

Should you wish to order a Reproduction Print or an individual Greeting Card from this suite, or simply like to read

more about any of the images in this superb set, please follow the hyperlinks (that is, click on the illustration of

interest) and you will be taken through to a page dedicated to that illustration. Of course, should you wish to discuss

some customised options, we welcome your contact on any matter through ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com.

In the meantime, enjoy perusing these extraordinarily powerful images by Albrecht Dürer.

Dürer's illustrations

The Martyrdom of St John the Evangelist	St John's Vision of Christ and the Seven Candlesticks	St John and the Twenty-four Elders in Heaven	The Four Riders of the Apocalypse
Opening the Fifth and Sixth Seals	Four Angels Staying the Winds and Signing the Chosen	The Adoration of the Lamb and the Hymn of the Chosen	The Seven Trumpets are Given to the Angels
The Battle of the Angels	St John Devours the Book	The Woman Clothed with the Sun and the Seven-headed Dragon	St Michael Fighting the Dragon
The Sea Monster and the Beast with the Lamb's Horn	The Whore of Babylon	The Angel with the Key to the Bottomless Pit