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Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileIn the upper celestial realm, God sits upon a throne holding the Book of the Seven Seals, flanked by seven lamps and the symbolic creatures of the Evangelists. Saint John kneels in the clouds below, receiving guidance from one of the twenty-four crowned elders who populate the heavenly court. Beneath this divine assembly lies a tranquil earthly landscape featuring a fortified manor and a lake, emphasizing the threshold between the human and the divine.
This work is a cornerstone of Renaissance visionary art, providing the definitive iconographic program for the Book of Revelation at the turn of the 16th century. It reflects the intense eschatological expectations of the era and the Neoplatonic interest in celestial hierarchies and the soul's ascent to divine revelation.
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Book of Revelation
This print is a literal and visionary illustration of Chapter 4 of the Apocalypse of St. John.
Joachim of Fiore
Dürer's apocalyptic imagery emerged from a cultural milieu deeply influenced by Joachite prophetic traditions regarding the stages of history and the end times.
Object
Engraving
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/petit-palais/oeuvres/l-apocalypse-edition-allemande-saint-jean-devant-le-seigneur-et-les-anciens#infos-principales
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
3613 × 4953 px
7b5017a33060122853a8eaa13d06f75834b6b581
June 26, 2023
March 24, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.