The Four Horsemen
c. 1496–1498 · Woodcut · National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
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About this work
- Artist
- Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
- Year
- c. 1496–1498
- Medium
- Woodcut
- Original size
- 39 × 28.1 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
- Series
- The Apocalypse
Four riders charge from left to right across the sheet under a clouded sky, trampling the people beneath them: a bowman, a swordsman, a rider holding scales and, at the front, Death as a gaunt old man on a starved horse, while an angel flies overhead and a monstrous mouth swallows a bishop at the lower left. The woodcut illustrates Revelation 6, the opening of the first four seals. It is the best known of the fifteen large woodcuts of Dürer's Apocalypse, published in Nuremberg in 1498 in Latin and German editions, at a time when many expected the end of the world around the year 1500. Dürer published and sold the book himself, and it quickly made his name across Europe. He cut the blocks in pear wood, with the biblical text printed on the back of each image; a second edition followed in 1511, and single impressions were also sold. This impression, from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, is dated by the museum to about 1496–1498.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Four riders thundering across the sheet in dense black woodcut line on cream, an angel above, for a study, library or long hallway at 16×24 in black. A white, warm grey or deep red wall; it pairs with The Great Day of His Wrath.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 15th century (c. 1496–1498)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
