Empire and Apocalypse in Early Modern Europe:

An Analysis of Selected Images from Albrecht Dürer’s Apocalypse Series

Heather Madar’s “Dürer’s depictions of the Ottoman Turks: a case of early modern

Orientalism?”

• Influences on Dürer’s Apocalypse– Millenarianism – Existential need – Threat of Ottoman expansion

• Ottoman Empire replaces ancient Rome in critique

Albrecht Dürer, Sea Monster and the Beast with the Lamb’s Horns, 1498 Albrecht Dürer, Three Orientals, c.1494–95

Albrecht Dürer, The Whore of Babylon Seated upon a Beast with Seven Heads, 1498 Albrecht Dürer, An Oriental Ruler Enthroned, c.1495

Albrecht Dürer, Martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist, 1498