The Book of Revelation is the strangest book in the Bible, and the most controversial. Instead of stories and moral teaching, it offers only visions—dreams and nightmares, the Four Horsemen, earthquakes, plagues and war. In the climactic battle scene, Jesus appears as a divine warrior, Satan is thrown into a pit, and all humans who had died faithful to God reign over the earth for 1,000 years.This narrative's puzzle of how and when the world will end in an apocalyptic state has consumed christian artists for over a millennium.This gallery is meant to provide a visual representation of some of the events that occur in St Johns predictions.
The Apocalypse, the Vision of John, Unknown, 1626, From the collection of: Monastery of St. John the Theologian, Patmos, Greece
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass... Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." - Revelation 1:1-3
Death on a pale horse, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Around 1825, From the collection of: Tate Britain
"...behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." Revelation 6:8
The Battle of Four Horsemen (Battle of Anghiari), Gérard Edelinck, c. 1657 - 1666, From the collection of: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." Revelation 6:9
The Opening of the Sixth Seal, Albrecht Dürer, c. 1496 - 1498, From the collection of: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
"And beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood." Revelation 6:12
The Great Day of His Wrath, John Martin, Around 1851, From the collection of: Tate Britain
"For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6:17
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, William Blake, c. 1805, From the collection of: National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars...and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood ready before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born." Revelation 12:1-4
The Virgin of the Apocalypse, Miguel Cabrera, 1760, From the collection of: Museo Nacional de Arte
"She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days. Then war broke out in heaven..." Revelation 12:5-7
The Defeat of the Beast, Unknown, about 1255–1260, From the collection of: The J. Paul Getty Museum
"And the beast was taken, and... [was] cast alive into a lake of fire and burning with brimstone." Revelation 19:20
The Fall of the Rebel Angels, Luca Giordano, 1660/1665, From the collection of: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, heaving the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." Revelation 20:1-2
And the Sea Gave Up the Dead Which Were in It, Lord Leighton Frederic, 1892, From the collection of: Tate Britain
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." Revelation 20:13
The Last Judgement, John Martin, 1853, From the collection of: Tate Britain
"And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." Revelation 20:11
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