The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse

1498

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse is a 1498 by Albrecht Dürer, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Albrecht Dürer
When & what style?: 1498 · Renaissance
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see four riders on charging horses—one with a bow, one with a sword, one holding scales, and one with a pitchfork. They trample people beneath them. This is a woodcut, meaning Dürer carved the image into a block of wood, then printed it. It’s from a book of Bible scenes he made himself, not just a single artwork. The lines are sharp and packed with tiny details, like the folds in the riders’ cloaks. Look up *chiaroscuro*—the way light and dark contrast—to see how other artists used this trick.

The story of this work

Overview

In 1498 Dürer published a book illustrating the Revelation of John or the Apocalypse of John, the last book of the New Testament. The images were unique in their large scale, breadth of concept, and unity of design. The first book to be both published and illustrated by the artist, it comprised a title page and 15 full-sheet woodcuts featuring text on the verso of all the sheets except the last one. Often visible through the paper, the text mars the image on the recto of the sheet. The finest impressions were most often printed without text, like this one of The Four Horsemen . Here, Dürer…

Read the full account in the museum source.