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Albrecht Dürer
was the first artist
to publish a book
and declare it as
‘copyrighted’
.
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In
1498,
he printed
fifteen woodcuts
of a series depicting
The Apocalypse
A
vision
recorded by
the apostle John
in the book of
Revelation
Dürer
also produced
and sold individual
prints of these
woodcuts
.
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Since they are so
detailed, I’m worried
that you won’t be able
to see them very well
if you are viewing
on a mobile
device
.
Maybe you
have the ability
to Zoom
???
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In the Bible,
the book of Revelation
records a spiritual experience
that the apostle John wrote
about while exiled on
the Isle of Patmos
.
After writing brief
letters to seven churches
that he believed were dictated
to him by God, he sees a vision
of these churches as seven
candlesticks in Heaven
:
The Vision of the Seven Candlesticks
Albrecht Dürer
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After
this I looked,
and there before me
was a door standing
open in heaven
.
And
the voice I had
first heard speaking
to me like a trumpet said,
“Come up here, and I will
show you what must
take place after
this”
.
At
once I was
in the Spirit, and
there before me was
a throne in heaven with
someone sitting on it
.
Revelation 4:1-2
Saint John Before God and the Elders
Albrecht Dürer
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I
watched as
the Lamb opened
the first of the
seven seals
.
Then I heard
one of the four living
creatures say in a voice
like thunder, “Come!”
I looked, and there
before me was a
white horse
!
Its
rider held
a bow, and he
was given a crown,
and he rode out as a
conqueror bent on
conquest
.
When the Lamb
opened the second seal,
I heard the second living
creature say, “Come!”
Then another horse
came out, a fiery red one.
Its rider was given power to
take peace from the earth,
and to make people
kill each other
.
To him
was given a
large sword
.
When the Lamb
opened the third seal,
I heard the third living
creature say, “Come!”
I
looked,
and there before
me was a black horse!
Its rider was holding
a pair of scales in
his hand
.
When the Lamb
opened the fourth seal,
I heard the voice of the
fourth living creature
say, “Come!”
I
looked,
and there before
me was a pale horse!
Its rider was named Death,
and Hades was following
close behind him
.
They were given
power over a fourth of
the earth to kill by sword,
famine and plague, and
by the wild beasts
of the earth
.
Revelation 6:1-5.7-8
The Four Horsemen
Albrecht Dürer
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When he opened the
fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of those who
had been slain because of
the word of God and
the testimony they
had maintained
.
Revelation 6:9
The Opening of the Fifth and Sixth Seals
Albrecht Dürer
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After this I saw
four angels standing at
the four corners of the earth,
holding back the four winds of
the earth to prevent any wind
from blowing on the land or
on the sea or on any tree
.
Then I saw
another angel
coming up from
the east, having
the seal of the
living God
.
He
called out
in a loud voice to
the four angels who
had been given power
to harm the land
and the sea
:
“Do not harm the
land or the sea or the
trees until we put a seal
on the foreheads of the
servants of our God”
.
Revelation 7:1-3
Four Angels Staying the Winds
Albrecht Dürer
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When
he opened
the seventh seal,
there was silence in
heaven for about
half an hour
.
And I saw the seven
angels who stand before
God, and seven trumpets were
given to them. Another angel, who
had a golden censer, came and stood
at the altar. He was given much incense
to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people,
on the golden altar in front of the throne.
The smoke of the incense, together with
the prayers of God’s people, went up
before God from the angel’s hand
.
Then the angel took
the censer, filled it with fire
from the altar, and hurled it on
the earth; and there came peals
of thunder, rumblings, flashes
of lightning and an
earthquake
.
Revelation 8:1-5
The Opening of the Seventh Seal
Albrecht Dürer
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Then
the seven
angels who had
the seven trumpets
prepared to sound them
.
The first angel
sounded his trumpet,
and there came hail and
fire mixed with blood,
and it was hurled
down on the
earth
.
A third
of the earth
was burned up,
a third of the trees
were burned up, and
all the green grass
was burned up
.
The second angel
sounded his trumpet, and
something like a huge mountain,
all ablaze, was thrown into the sea.
A third of the sea turned into blood,
a third of the living creatures in the
sea died, and a third of the
ships were destroyed
.
The third angel
sounded his trumpet, and a
great star, blazing like a torch,
fell from the sky on a third of
the rivers and on the springs
of water the name of the
star is Wormwood
.
A third of the
waters turned bitter,
and many people died
from the waters that
had become
bitter
.
The fourth angel
sounded his trumpet, and
a third of the sun was struck, a
third of the moon, and a third
of the stars, so that a third of
them turned dark. A third
of the day was without
light, and also a
third of the
night
.
Revelation 8:6-12
The Four Avenging Angels
Albrecht Dürer
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Then the
voice that I had
heard from heaven
spoke to me once more:
“Go, take the scroll that lies
open in the hand of the
angel who is standing
on the sea and on
the land.”
So
I went to
the angel and
asked him to give me
the little scroll. He said to me,
“Take it and eat it. It will turn your
stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth
it will be as sweet as honey.'”
I took the little scroll
from the angel’s hand and
ate it. It tasted as sweet as
honey in my mouth, but
when I had eaten it,
my stomach
turned
sour
.
Then
I was told,
“You must prophesy
again about many peoples,
nations, languages and kings.”
.
Revelation 10:8-11
Saint John Devours the Book
Albrecht Dürer
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A great sign
appeared in heaven:
a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet and
a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She was pregnant and cried out in
painas she was about to give birth
.
Then another sign appeared in heaven:
an enormous red dragon with seven heads
and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.
Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky
and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood
in front of the woman who was about to give
birth, so that it might devour her child the
moment he was born. She gave birth to
a son, a male child, who “will rule all
the nations with an iron scepter.”
And her child was
snatched up to God
and to his throne
.
Revelation 12:1-5
Woman Clothed with the Sun
and the Seven Headed Dragon
Albrecht Dürer
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Then war broke out in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the
dragon and his angels
fought back
.
But he was not
strong enough, and they
lost their place in heaven. The
great dragon was hurled down-
that ancient serpent called the
devil, or Satan, who leads the
whole world astray
.
He was hurled to
the earth, and his
angels with
him
.
Revelation 12:7-9
Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon
Albrecht Dürer
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The
dragon stood
on the shore of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming out
of the sea. It had ten horns and seven
heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and
on each head a blasphemous name. The
beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had
feet like those of a bear and a mouth
like that of a lion. The dragon gave
the beast his power and his
throne and great
authority
.
Revelation 13:1-2
The Sea Monster and Beast with Horns like a Lamb
Albrecht Dürer
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Then
I looked, and there
before me was the Lamb,
standing on Mount Zion, and
with him 144,000 who had
his name and his Father’s
name written on their
foreheads
.
And I heard a
sound from heaven
like the roar of rushing
waters and like a loud
peal of thunder
.
The sound I heard was
like that of harpists playing
their harps. And they sang a
new song before the throne
and before the four living
creatures and the elders
…
Revelation 14:1-3
The Adoration of the Lamb
Albrecht Dürer
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And I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet beast,
full of names of blasphemy
with seven heads and
ten horns
.
The
woman was
garbed in purple &
scarlet, and gilded with
gold, gems, and pearls, and
bearing a golden goblet in her
hand full of abominations and
filthiness of her fornication
.
Revelation 17:3-4
:
The Whore of Babylon
Albrecht Dürer
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And
I saw an angel
coming down out of
heaven, having the key
to the Abyss and hold-
ing in his hand a
great chain
.
He seized the
dragon, that ancient
serpent, who is the devil,
or Satan, and bound him
for a thousand years
.
He threw him into
the Abyss, and locked
and sealed it over him, to
keep him from deceiving
the nations anymore
until the thousand
years were
ended
.
After that, he
must be set free
for a short time
.
Revelation 20:1-3
The Angel With the Key to the Bottomless Pit
Albrecht Dürer
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There was one more
woodcut printed in this
series, but it is a scene
that doesn’t appear
in the bible
.
Later texts
told a story of
the martyred John
being boiled in oil
:
The Martyrdom of Saint John
Albrecht Dürer
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The
publication
of these woodcuts
made Dürer famous
.
He went on to publish
woodcut series; The Large
Passion, Life of the Virgin,
the Small Passion, and
The Triumphal Arch
.
You can see those
at the Web Gallery of Art
:
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The Met
(Metropolitan Art
Museum in New York)
has a beautiful collection of
high-quality images you
can browse here
:
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also
…
Met
Publications
offers a free PDF
of their Art Bulletin
“The Print in the North:
The Age of Albrecht
Dürer and Lucas
van Leyden”
:
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The
icon for
this article is
the Frontispiece of
the Apocalypse book
:
‘Virgin Appearing to
Saint John’
1498
:
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