Bible in art · Revelation

Revelation of St. John: The Adoration of the Lamb

Dürer · 1511
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Dürer cut this crowded sheet for the Apocalypse around 1496–98; this impression comes from the 1511 edition.

A great crowd in white robes, palm branches raised like a forest of leaves, looks up to a lamb standing in a ring of light. Elders, angels and the four living creatures stand around it, and at the bottom an elder talks with John.

From the text

A multitude in white robes, “holding palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9)
Angels, elders and the four living creatures round the throne (Revelation 7:11)
An elder asks John who those in white robes are (Revelation 7:13–14)

The artist’s own

The lamb with a cross-banner, as painters of the time drew it, an elder holding a cup to its breast
The crowd in the dress of Dürer’s day

Details

The lamb

A lamb with many horns and a banner stands in a ring of light.

A living creature

A winged lion in a burst of light.

Palm branches

Dozens of raised palms rise over the crowd.

John and the elder

A crowned elder bends towards John, who kneels with open hands.

Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1922.94.8) · 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 7:9–17After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. ‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’ For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

See it at the museum’s site