Bible in art · Revelation

Revelation of St. John: St. John before the Throne

Dürer · 1511
The Cleveland Museum of Art

The third woodcut of Dürer’s Apocalypse (cut c. 1496–98, this impression printed 1511) puts heaven above an ordinary German landscape.

Through an open door, the One on the throne sits among seven flaming torches, with the four living creatures beside him and the elders in crowns on rows of seats. A lamb with many horns reaches for the book on his lap, while an elder speaks to John on a cloud below. Underneath, a lake, a castle and a town lie quietly in the sun.

From the text

“a door standing open in heaven” and a throne with someone seated on it (Revelation 4:1–2)
Twenty-four elders with golden crowns and four living creatures — lion, calf, man and eagle (Revelation 4:4, 4:7)
The Lamb takes the scroll, and an elder tells John, “Do not weep!” (Revelation 5:5–7)

The artist’s own

A real landscape under the vision, with a moated castle and a town on a lake
The scroll drawn as a bound book

Details

The open door

A heavy wooden door with iron hinges stands open at the left edge.

The throne

Seven torches burn above the throne; a horned lamb reaches up to the book.

John and the elder

John kneels on a cloud; a crowned elder takes his hand.

The world below

A castle with a tall round tower stands by a lake.

Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1922.94.4) · 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 4:1–11After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.” At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it. The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and came to be.”

Rev 5:1–8Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One seated on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look inside it. And I began to weep bitterly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look inside it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne. When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

See it at the museum’s site