Jump to content tickets Member | Make a donation
- The Collection
- The American Wing Ancient Near Eastern Art Arms and Armor The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing Asian Art The Cloisters The Costume Institute Drawings and Prints Egyptian Art European Paintings European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Greek and Roman Art Islamic Art Robert Lehman Collection The Libraries Medieval Art Musical Instruments Photographs Antonio Ratti Textile Center Modern and Contemporary Art
Crop your artwork:
Scan your QR code:
Gratefully built with ACNLPatternTool
Albrecht Dürer German
Not on view
The third woodcut from Dürer’s Apocalypse, the Four Horsem*n presents a dramatically distilled version of the passage from the book of Revelation (6:1–8). Transforming what was a relatively staid and unthreatening image in earlier illustrated Bibles, Dürer injects motion and danger into this climactic moment through his subtle manipulation of the wood block. The parallel lines across the image establish a basic middle tone, against which the artist silhouettes and overlaps the powerful forms of the four horses and riders—from left to right, Death on his pale horse, Famine with his scales, War carrying a sword, and Plague (or Pestilence) with his bow and crown. The Mouth of Hell, ready for victims, opens up at bottom left.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title: Four Horsem*n of the Apocalypse
Artist: Albrecht Dürer (German, Nuremberg 1471–1528 Nuremberg)
Date: ca. 1497/1498
Medium: Woodcut
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Felix M. Warburg, 1940
Accession Number: 40.139.6(5)
Learn more about this artwork
Timeline of Art History
Essay
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
Essay
Anselm Kiefer (born 1945)
Essay
Arms and Armor - Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions
Essay
Europe and the Age of Exploration
Essay
Jan Gossart (ca. 1478-1532) and His Circle
Essay
Portraiture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe
Essay
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669): Prints
Essay
The Decoration of Arms and Armor
Essay
The Printed Image in the West: History and Techniques
Essay
The Rediscovery of Classical Antiquity
Essay
The Reformation
Chronology
Central Europe (including Germany), 1400-1600 A.D.
Related Artworks
- All Related Artworks
- By Albrecht Dürer
- Drawings and Prints
- Prints
- Relief prints
- Woodcuts
- From Europe
- From Germany
- From A.D. 1400–1600
Das Narrenschyff
Albrecht Dürer (German, Nuremberg 1471–1528 Nuremberg)
1495
Underweysung der Messung/ mit dem Zirckel und richtscheyt
Albrecht Dürer (German, Nuremberg 1471–1528 Nuremberg)
1525
Opera Alberti Dureri. Das ist / Alle Bücher des weitberühmbten... .cont.: Underweysung der messung [. . .] vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion; Etliche underricht /zu befestigung// der Stett/ Schloss und flecken
Albrecht Dürer (German, Nuremberg 1471–1528 Nuremberg)
1603–4
Di Alberto Durero Pittore, e Geometra. . .della Simmetria dei Corpi Humani, Libri Quattro Nuouamente Tradotti dalla Lingua Latina nella Italiana
Albrecht Dürer (German, Nuremberg 1471–1528 Nuremberg)
1591
The Flight into Egypt, from The Life of the Virgin, from the Latin Edition
Albrecht Dürer (German, Nuremberg 1471–1528 Nuremberg)
1511
How Woodcuts are Made
An illustrated explainer.
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
Drawings and Prints at The Met
The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.