'The Four Horsemen' Albrecht Dürer Pocket Square

Artwork: 'The Four Horsemen'
Painter: Albrecht Dürer
Source: Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester
 
The idea of apocalypse itself has been made all the more vivid by Revelations, the very last book of the Bible, which contains scene after scene of momentously illogical happenings, implacable tales of the Last Days, terrible warrings before the Second Coming is finally upon us, when the sheep are divided from the goats and all is at peace at last. These visions – once believed to be the work of the Apostle John, Jesus's most beloved disciple – have been seized on by artists, theologians and doom-mongers of various stripes down the centuries to warn us of imminent catastrophe.

Here we have a version by the brilliant Nuremberger Albrecht Dürer, one of an entire suite of woodblocks created at the turn of the 16th century, yet another potentially apocalyptic moment full of war, rumours of war and doctrinal conflict. It is on display until 1 September at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester amid many other wonderful things from their permanent collection, including Goyas, De Chiricos and Picassos. This too seems to be a terrible warning of sorts, driven by politics, religion and fear of what an unknowable future might bring down upon the heads of the godless. What we see, furiously visually enacted here, was, according to the Bible, described on a scroll in the keeping of Jesus, who sits enthroned. A lamb with seven horns and seven eyes seizes that scroll, breaks its seal, and reads.