Author Description

Europe experienced great turmoil between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Bitter religious conflicts, war and other disasters such as plague and famine generated deep anxieties and were increasingly read as divine punishments or warnings that the Last Days were imminent. Artists gave expression to these fears in a range of extraordinary images that are analysed in depth in this publication. Illustrations of the Apocalypse, as well as images of skeletons personifying Death, and of physically deformed creatures, extreme natural phenomena and diabolical witches were all manifestations of the sense of impending social and religious crisis. Lavishly illustrated with works by artists including Albrecht Drer, Jacques de Gheyn II and Stefano della Bella, The Four Horsemen: Apocalypse, Death and Disaster provides a fascinating insight into the art, culture and turbulent times in later medieval, Renaissance and early modern Europe.