The Sixth Trumpet (Bamberg Apocalypse)

In this manuscript illumination, four winged angels with golden haloes emerge from stylized blue waves at the bottom of the frame. One angel, positioned on the right, blows a long, horn-like trumpet toward a large, gold-leafed cubic altar on the left, from which a hand of God emerges within a circular golden aura. The angels are rendered with simplistic, rounded facial features, wearing light-colored tunics with draped mantles in muted pinks and greens. The composition is structured by the geometric mass of the altar and the rhythmic, rolling lines of the water, set against a background of stacked horizontal color bands representing the sky.

This image depicts the sixth trumpet blast from the Book of Revelation (9:13–15), signaling the release of four angels bound at the river Euphrates. It is a key illustration from the Bamberg Apocalypse, a pinnacle of Ottonian manuscript illumination produced at the Reichenau Abbey.