Central panel from an altarpiece depicting the Apocalypse, by Master Bertram, Hamburg, Germany, about 1380. Museum no. 5940-1859
Left and right panels from an altarpiece depicting the Apocalypse, by Master Bertram, Hamburg, Germany, about 1380. Museum no. 5940-1859
The word apocalypse means ‘revelation’ but is nowadays more usually associated with the idea of the end of the world. This comes from the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, which describes the final battle between God and Satan – Armageddon. In a period when the Christian Church provided the moral and social framework for society, and belief in Heaven and Hell was absolute, the story of the Apocalypse had a widespread influence on many aspects of medieval thought, culture and everyday life.
Many people could not read, so images and symbols were vital in communicating ideas and teachings. The visual imagery of the Book of Revelation is particularly vivid and symbolic, and was often re-used to refer to contemporary events. In the 12th century for example, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were seen by some as symbolising four stages in the history of the Church, and the Whore of Babylon has been associated with numerous notorious female characters throughout the medieval period and beyond.
Even in recent, less intensely religious, times, ideas associated with the Apocalypse remain embedded in modern culture. Numerous artworks and films reference the Book of Revelation, attesting to the power of its imagery. Examples include: L' Apocaliss illustrations (Giorgio de Chirico 1941), The Atomic Apocalypse (Linares Family 1983), Tree of Life (Kester, Hilario Nhatugueja, Fiel dos Santos and Adelino Serafim Maté 2004), the Omen films, and Pale Rider.
Altarpiece of the Apocalypse
These panels are from a triptych (work of art in three sections), probably an altarpiece, made in Hamburg, Germany, around 1380, by a craftsman known as Master Bertram (around 1345–1415). Altarpieces with scenes from the Book of Revelation are rare, but this example is illustrated with images from the Apocalypse. The triptych has 45 panels, each containing a scene – a layout derived from illuminated manuscripts. The inscriptions, from a mid-13th-century north German Apocalypse commentary, provide an interpretation of what each scene means.
Audio: Description of the altarpiece of the Apocalypse
The magnificent gilded altarpiece in front of this audio point dates from around 1380 and was made in the workshop of an artist known as Master Bertram in Hamburg, Germany. Across its three panels, 45 brightly painted scenes from the Book of the Revelation are arranged in rows. The central panel is 123 centimetres, or 4 feet, high and 168 centimetres, or 5 and a half feet, wide. Each of the two side wings measures 83 centimetres, or two and a half feet wide. Running along the top is a decorative cornice studded with twelve small circular medallions containing paintings of the crowned heads of men and women.
The scenes on the altarpiece are read from left to right across all three panels and are arranged in a grid, separated by scarlet lines. The only exception is a larger circular scene in the top left of the central panel. This shows Christ enthroned in majesty. Christ's face is green, following a reference in the Book of Revelation that describes him as looking like 'jasper'. There's a Latin inscription painted on the scarlet grid. This text is derived from a 13th-century commentary by a Saxon friar, Alexander, in which he matches descriptions in the biblical Revelation to actual historical figures and events.
On the left-hand panel, the second image in the top row depicts Christ wearing a long-sleeved white robe. His long hair is white, while his beard and face are gold, echoing the words of the Bible 'his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength'. A gold and scarlet halo frames his head and a sword, symbolising the word of God, almost touches his mouth. His feet are scarlet, resting on a mound of glowing coals, … 'as if they burned in a furnace'. Christ looks towards the youthful figure of St John the Evangelist, who lies at his feet in supplication. St John was believed to have written the Book of Revelation.
The third picture in the top row of the right hand panel shows the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse - Death - leaping on horseback from the mouth of Hell, personified as the gaping, fiery jaws of an enormous beast. Death, robed in white, reaches behind him to push the head of an anguished man into Hell's maw. Death's horse is at full stretch. Its front hooves have split through the head of a bearded man who lies cowering beneath it. To the right another man is being devoured by two wild animals. The inscription around the scene is now missing, but Alexander's commentary identified the figure of Death as the Roman emperor Domitian persecuting the Christians.
Above the scene an eagle, symbolising of St John, flies from the top left corner. Opposite the eagle is a Lamb, the symbol of Christ. It hangs suspended in the air, its head framed by a crimson halo. The story is incomplete, however, lacking the scenes from the last five chapters of the Book of Revelation. They describe Christ's triumph and the end of human suffering.
Supported by The BAND Trust.
Audio: Reading from the Book of Revelation
This reading is from Revelation 6: 1–8, the description of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Female narrator: The 14th-century altarpiece in front of this audio point contains 45 vividly painted scenes based on the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament and therefore, the Bible. It describes a number of visions experienced by its presumed author — St John the Evangelist. These visions include a series of catastrophic events destined to befall humankind before the final triumph of good over evil.
On the central panel of the altarpiece, in the top row, are scenes showing the arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Here is the vision described in the Book of Revelation.
Male voice: And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. … And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. … … And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them, over the fourth part of the earth, to, kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Female narrator: These scenes, like others on the altarpiece, are accompanied by lines of text. The words come from a text composed around the mid-1200s by a Franciscan friar called Alexander. Alexander explained each vision by linking it to real figures and events from history. He identified each of the four horsemen with the reign of a Roman Emperor who'd persecuted Christians. Alexander believed that many of the scenes described in the Book of Revelation had already taken place and that the moment of final judgement was fast approaching.
Audio: Gregorian Apocalypse chants
The four sung prayers you can listen to here are all examples of Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant was traditionally sung by choirs in convents and monasteries. The Latin words of these chants, like the painted scenes on the altarpiece illustrated here, focus on events described in the Book of Revelation.
The Book of Revelation includes descriptions of a series of visions experienced by its author, including descriptions of a series of terrible and catastrophic events that befall humankind before ending with the final triumph of good over evil. From the time of the early Church onwards many Christians believed that the end of the world was close at hand. The chants you can listen to here are still universally sung in monasteries world-wide and wherever the Latin chant is still used.
This recording was made by the Royal College of Music especially for the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries thanks to an award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Supported by The BAND Trust.
Latin transcription: Isti sunt Sancti Qui pro testamento Dei Sua corpora tradierunt, et in sanguine Agni laverunt stolas suas.
Exsultabunt Sancti in gloria. Laetabuntur in cubilibus suis.
English translation: These are the saints who bore witness to God by laying aside earthly life. They have washed their robes clean in the blood of the Lamb.
O quam gloriosum (How full of splendour)
Latin Transcription: O quam gloriosum est regnum, in quo cum Christo gaudent omnes Sancti! Amicti stolis albis, Sequuntur Agnum quocumque ierit.
English translation: How full of splendour is the Kingdom, where all the Saints exult with Christ! The white-robed throng follows the Lamb in all his ways.
Et omnes Angeli (all the angels)
Latin transcription: Et omnes Angeli stabant in circuitu throni, et ceciderunt in conspectus throni in facies suas, et adoraverunt Deum.
English translation: All the angels stood around the throne, and they fell on their faces before the throne, and worshipped God.
Redemisti nos (You have redeemed us)
Latin transcription: Redemisti nos Domine Deus, In sanguine tuo ex omni tribu, et lingua, et populo, et natione: et fecisti nos Deo nostro regnum.
English translation: You have redeemed us, Lord God, in your blood, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made us a kingdom to our God.
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