Albrecht Durer
"The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse"
For my second art Analysis, I have chosen Albrecht Durer's The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse, which is the third woodcut of his terrifying Apocalypse
series, and an example of the Northern Renaissance (Cunningham and Grell). He created it in 1498 in Nuremberg, Germany and the complete series contains altogether fifteen scenes from the Book of
Revelations.
The reason why I chose this piece of art is, because I like old, German, dark artwork. I would love to own a copy of this, but just like Schongauer's work, I would rather not hang it up on our wall, due to having two little kids around. Even if this is a little more difficult to understand and little less scary as the demons in my last blog.
The picture demonstrates the four horsemen -Conquest, War, Famine, and Death- an angel above, and the victims in the lower part. Those are persons from all orders of society, like bishops, children, soldiers, emperors, to show that no one will be spared at the time of the Apocalypse. The hell mouth is shown in the lower left corner, in form of a monster, which looks a lot like a lion, swallowing one of the victims.
I think it is an exceptional piece of art, and a lot of thin lines and shading have been used, to create this. Since it was a woodcut, he was not able to use colors and therefore he had to make sure to establish a flow and detail with black and grey tones only. It is so much in detail, that you can clearly see the fear in the faces of the victims and the pain they are enduring.
What I find interesting is how the riders and the angel have been placed. The diagonal shape and the lines in the sky gives the whole piece a dynamism and depth, even without the help of colors. This is the reason, why "Durer's woodcuts retain a more Gothic flavor than the rest of his work" (Ruhmer).
The last years of Durer’s life coincided with the event of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Even if Durer did not create polemical art that was meant to discredit the Church of Rome, he was a great supporter of Martin Luther’s effort to provide a new German Bible and a new path to salvation that did not depend on non-biblical traditions, rituals, or institutions. By 1520 the artist had collected many of Luther’s writings, and in 1521 he wrote a lament upon hearing (falsely) that the reformer had been captured and killed. This displays, that he played a big part in the Protestant Reformation and his influence can be seen in the first 2 editions of Luther's new Testaments in German.
Wow, I learned a lot from your blog post, particularly his relation and feelings to the Protestant Reformation. This was one of the artists I did not read thoroughly through during the assigned readings, so I really appreciate this as it's informative and straightforward.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why one horsemen is so low? And I wonder if that is the one who represents Famine, as he is pretty emaciated. Also who the angel may be... overall though, I love the work, though it's a little difficult for me to look at or decipher.
Hello, I really appreciate that you share such dark art. I am also a fan of the more gothic style art. I am curious as to why you would not let your young children see the picture. I believe that it is a great way to spark good conversation. I do respect your parental choices though. I like that you really explained how the lines in art make the depth and dimension. I appreciate your point of view. Thank you for sharing.
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