The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1511
Series title originalApocalipsis cum figuris (Blatt 3)
Series titleApocalypse (sheet 3)
MediumWoodcut
Sheet dimensions39,4 × 27,8 cm
About the workThese four menacing horsemen that the Nuremberg artist Albrecht Dürer makes pass before our eyes are close enough to touch: first the embodiments of conquest and war, equipped with bow and sword; then the rider with the scales, representing famine; and finally death in the form of a skeleton. According to the “Book of Revelation”, their appearance heralds the end of the world. Dürer created a series of graphic works for a new edition of this book of the Bible; they are distinguished by a complex pictorial structure and a fineness of line that was hitherto unprecedented in the medium of woodcut.
AccessionCollection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Provenance[…]; seit 1932 Dauerleihgabe der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Inventory numberKA (FP) 1987 D
