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Book, Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes), 1498
Albrecht Dürer
Book, Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes),
Albrecht Dürer,
*1043

Book, Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes),
1498

Albrecht Dürer
*1043
g1N2
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Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Ausstellungsstrasse 60
8031 Zurich
Museum map
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 94
8031 Zurich
Pavillon Le Corbusier
Höschgasse 8
8008 Zürich
Museum map
  • Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes) Albrecht Dürer Book
  • Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes) Albrecht Dürer Book
  • Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes) Albrecht Dürer Book
  • Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes) Albrecht Dürer Book
  • Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes) Albrecht Dürer Book
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Listen to the text
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Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) is considered one of the most important exponents of the German Renaissance. His woodcut cycle of the Apocalypse manifests his mastery in this field. Dürer liberated the woodcut from its traditional role as book illustration and raised it to the same artistic level as painting.

In 1498, shortly after his first journey to Venice, Albrecht Dürer published his large-format Apocalypse, comprising one title page and a picture cycle of fifteen woodcut prints. The pictures on the right are accompanied by the Latin text of the Revelation of Saint John on the left. Dürer treated prints and painting on equal terms, freeing the woodcut from its traditional functional role as book illustration. Furthermore, he placed his monogram in the center of the bottom margin, prominently highlighting his authorship. With his virtuoso hatching technique, he uncovered new expressive possibilities in the woodblock print. By using dense hatching and the swelling and shrinking of lines, he created convincing shading and volume. The gloomy imagery of the Apocalypse reflects the apocalyptic mood prevailing just before the outbreak of the Reformation. The ninth sheet of the series shows The Woman Clothed with the Sun and the Seven-Headed Dragon. Here, Satan appears as a seven-headed monster. The beast threatens the pregnant Mother of God, who is standing on a crescent moon, surrounded by the sun’s rays. Two angels lift her newborn up into the sky, where he is received and blessed by the Holy Father. A fecund imagination, richness in detail, and inventiveness, as well as technical and artistic mastery, make the Apocalypse one of Dürer’s most famous works. The book was also commercially successful. Within his lifetime Dürer published several editions that were spread far and wide along Europe’s trade routes. This brought him not only considerable earnings but also prominence beyond his own homeland. (Vanessa Gendre)

Buch, Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes), 1498
Holzschnitt: Albrecht Dürer
Druck: Anton Koberger
39.5 × 28 cm
Eigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK
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Literature

Norbert Wolf, Albrecht Dürer, München/London/New York 2017.

David Ganz/Ulrike Ganz, Visionen der Endzeit. Die Apokalypse in der mittelalterlichen Buchkunst, Darmstadt 2016.

Laurence Schmidlin (Hg.), La Passion Dürer, Vevey 2014.

Jochen Sander (Hg.) Dürer. Kunst – Künstler – Kontext, München/London/New York 2013.

Image credits

Buch, Einzelseite, Das Sonnenweib und der siebenhäuptige Drache (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes), 1498, Holzschnitt: Albrecht Dürer
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Buch, Titelseite, Apokalipsis in figuris (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes), 1511, Holzschnitt: Albrecht Dürer
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Buch, Einzelseite, Christus als Weltenrichter – Johannes erblickt die sieben Leuchter (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes), 1498, Holzschnitt: Albrecht Dürer
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Buch, Einzelseite, Der Riesenengel mit dem Säulenfuss – Johannes verschlingt das Buch (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes), 1498, Holzschnitt: Albrecht Dürer
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Buch, Einzelseite, Sturz des Satans durch Gottes Engel – Michaels Kampf mit dem Drachen (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes, 1498, Holzschnitt: Albrecht Dürer
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Buch, Einzelseite, Das himmlische Jerusalem – Der Engel mit dem Schlüssel zum Abgrund (Apokalypse – Die Offenbarung des Johannes), 1498, Holzschnitt: Albrecht Dürer
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Exhibition text
Albrecht Dürer - Woodcut Cycles

The two woodcut cycles of the Apocalypse (1498) and the Great Passion (1511) demonstrate Albrecht Dürer’s (1471–1528) exceptionally skillful handling of this medium. Using a special cross-hatching technique, with which he manages to elicit the finest details from the wood, Dürer succeeded at producing delicate compositions of stunning inventiveness. He thus elevated printed graphics to the artistic level of painting. Dürer is not without reason referred to as a Renaissance master.