The Angel with the Key to the Bottomless Pit

Dürer · probably c. 1496/1498
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Dürer published his Apocalypse in Nuremberg in 1498: fifteen large woodcuts with the text of Revelation printed on the back, in German and Latin editions. This is the last picture of the series.

Below, an angel with a great key pushes the dragon down into the pit, its lid ready to be shut. Above, on a hilltop, another angel shows John the holy city — a walled town with towers and gables, like a German town, with an angel standing in its gateway.

From the text

An angel “with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain” (Revelation 20:1)

The dragon thrown into the Abyss and shut in (Revelation 20:2–3)

John carried “to a mountain great and high” and shown the holy city (Revelation 21:10)

A great high wall with gates, and angels at the gates (Revelation 21:12)

The artist’s own

Two separate visions joined in one picture

Jerusalem as a German walled town of Dürer’s day

A real landscape of hills, trees and a flight of birds

Dürer’s monogram at the bottom

Details

On the mountain

An angel points John towards the city from a hilltop.

The city

Towers, gables and a great gatehouse.

At the gate

An angel stands in the arched gateway.

The key

The angel holds a huge key and a chain.

The dragon

The horned dragon, a collar round its neck, sinks into the pit.

The lid

The round lid of the pit waits to be shut.

Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3567) · Woodcut on laid paper · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)

The verses

Rev 20:1–3Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. After that, he must be released for a brief period of time.

Rev 21:9–12Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, as clear as crystal. The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates.