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The Fifth Trumpet: The Angel of Destruction and the Locusts

Unknownabout 1255–1260

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

On the sounding of the fifth trumpet, a star falls from heaven and is given the key to the bottomless pit. Here the star, with the key dangling from one of its rays, hovers over the pit, nearly obscured by the issuing smoke. From the pit, a legion of monstrous locusts emerges to plague the earth. The illuminator closely followed Saint John's description of the locusts, drawing them with the bodies of battle horses, the faces of men, the hair of women, and the tails of scorpions. A king riding on one of the locusts leads the horrible troop. For five months they will be given the power to roam the earth, and the text reports that men "shall desire to die, and death will evade them." (Apocalypse 9:6)

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  • Title: The Fifth Trumpet: The Angel of Destruction and the Locusts
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: about 1255–1260
  • Location Created: London (probably), England
  • Physical Dimensions: Leaf: 31.9 × 22.5 cm (12 9/16 × 8 7/8 in.)
  • Type: Folio
  • External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
  • Medium: Tempera colors, gold leaf, colored washes, pen and ink on parchment
  • Terms of Use: Open Content
  • Number: 83.MC.72.13v
  • Culture: English
  • Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. Ludwig III 1, fol. 13v
  • Creator Display Name: Unknown
  • Classification: Manuscripts (Documents)
The J. Paul Getty Museum

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