Albrecht DÜRER<br/>
<em>The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse</em> (c. 1497-1498); (1498) {printed before text edition of} <!-- (recto) --><br />
from <i>The Apocalypse</i> series, published 1498<br />
woodcut<br />
39.2 x 28.2 cm (image and sheet)<br />
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br />
Felton Bequest, 1956<br />
3538-4<br />

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The Four Horsemen

Apocalypse, Death and Disaster

Free entry

NGV International

Robert Raynor Gallery Prints & Drawings, Level 3

31 Aug 12 – 28 Jan 13

The Four Horsemen presents images of death and disaster in prints, illuminated manuscripts, illustrated books and paintings from the fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. This was a period of great turmoil in Europe, during which bitter religious conflict, war, famine and pestilence generated deep anxiety. Dramatic events and natural disasters were increasingly read as divine punishments or warnings that the Last Days were imminent.

This exhibition explores the ways in which artists gave expression to the beliefs and fears that plagued individuals and whole societies. The 120 works on display, including Albrecht Dürer’s extraordinary woodcuts illustrating the Apocalypse, prints by Hans Holbein, Jacques de Gheyn and Jacques Callot, illustrate witches, monsters, demons and the Devil. Death, personified as a skeleton, featured prominently in the visual culture of the period, and is represented in all guises – dancing, riding on horseback, and stalking unsuspecting men and women as they go about their daily lives.

The works in this exhibition are drawn from the Prints & Drawings collection of the National Gallery of Victoria and include key loans from the State Library of Victoria and the Special Collections of the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne.

Exhibition curated by Dr Petra Kayser, Curator, Prints & Drawings, NGV; Cathy Leahy, Senior Curator, Prints & Drawings, NGV; Dr Jennifer Spinks, Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne; and Professor Charles Zika, Professorial Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence, History of Emotions, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne.

Select Works

Albrecht DÜRER
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (c. 1497-1498); (1498) {printed before text edition of}
from The Apocalypse series, published 1498
woodcut
39.2 x 28.2 cm (image and sheet)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1956
3538-4
FLANDERS
Joos van CLEVE (manner of)
Saint Jerome (1530-1540s)
oil on wood panel
42.6 x 31.9 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1932
4590-3
Sebald BEHAM
The lady and Death 1541
engraving
7.9 x 5.2 cm (plate) 8.2 x 5.5 cm (sheet)
1st of 3 states
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1950
2278-4
Francisco GOYA y Lucientes
The sleep of reason produces monsters (1797-1798)
(El sueño de la razón produce monstruos)
plate 43 from Los Caprichos (The Caprices) series (1797–98), published 1799
etching and aquatint printed in sepia ink
18.3 x 12.2 cm (image) 21.5 x 15.1 cm (plate) 24.2 x 16.7 cm (sheet)
1st edition
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1976
P1.43-1976
MASTER S
Three skulls on a carved tomb (c. 1525-1550)
engraving
25.6 x 19.9 cm (image) 25.9 x 20.2 cm (sheet, trimmed to platemark)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1923
1278.225-3
Michael WOLGEMUT
Wilhelm PLEYDENWURFF
Christ embracing death (figure 45)
folio q verso in Stephan Fridolin’s Schatzbehalter, Nuremberg: Koberger, 1491
hand-coloured woodcut
State Library of Victoria
Michael WOLGEMUT
Wilhelm PLEYDENWURFF
Dance of Death
folio CCLXIIII recto in Hartmann Schedel’s Nuremberg Chronicle, Nuremberg: Koberger, 1493
woodcut
State Library of Victoria
Stefano della Bella
Italian 1610–64
Death on the battlefield c.1646–7
etching, 3rd or 4th of 4 states
22.5 x 30.3 cm (plate), 25.7 x 33.7 (sheet)
De Vesme 93 iii or iv/iv
Special Collections, Baillieu Library, The University of Melbourne
Gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton 1959 (1959.4585.000.000)
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