Bible in art · Revelation

Revelation of St. John: St. John Devouring the Books

Dürer · 1511
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Dürer cut this sheet of the Apocalypse around 1496–98; this impression is from the 1511 edition.

He took the words of Revelation 10 almost literally: the angel’s face is a sun, his body a cloud, his legs two columns topped with fire, one standing in the sea and one on land. John kneels on the shore and pushes the book into his mouth.

From the text

A mighty angel “wrapped in a cloud”, his face like the sun and his legs like pillars of fire (Revelation 10:1)
His right foot on the sea and his left on the land (Revelation 10:2)
“So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it” (Revelation 10:10)

The artist’s own

The scroll as a bound book, and John’s own writing book lying open beside him
Ships, a swan and a sea creature on the water

Details

Face like the sun

A face in a burst of straight rays, inside a ring.

Pillars of fire

Two stone columns with flames on top — one in the water.

Eating the book

John, head thrown back, puts the book to his mouth.

A hand from heaven

A hand points out of the clouds.

Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1922.94.11) · Woodcut · Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: Collection API record "share_license_status": "CC0" (Creative Commons Zero, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).

The verses

Rev 10:1–10Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. He held in his hand a small scroll, which lay open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices. When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven. And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets.” Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.” And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.

See it at the museum’s site