Picturing the End

The Book of Revelation — with its seven-headed beasts, angels pouring plagues, and cities consumed by fire — was irresistible to medieval artists. Manuscripts like the Bamberg Apocalypse (c. 1000 CE) and the Angers Tapestry (c. 1377) rendered John's visions in elaborate detail, creating images that terrified and fascinated in equal measure.

Once an artist nailed a vision, others copied it. A handful of striking motifs — the rider on a pale horse, the dragon with seven heads, the lamb breaking seals — spread across borders and centuries. The symbols were flexible: a painter could keep the shape everyone recognized while pointing it at whatever enemy or fear felt closest to home.