Apocalyptic Art in the Medieval, Renaissance and Modern Eras
by Lina Portolese, Tina Borsum, Alex Nam
Annotated Bibliography

Barlow, T. D. Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer. London: Penguin, 1948.

A collection of over 90 woodcuts by Dürer; includes very little text.

Emmerson, Richard. Antichrist in the Middle Ages. Seattle: University of  Washington Press, 1984.

This book gives the background for the Medieval belief in the Antichrist.  It discusses how the trend emerged and from what exegetical interpretations.  It also describes the influence that belief in the Antichrist had on art and literature.  It includes original paintings to illustrate examples.

Pg. 19 - Antichrist Seated Upon Leviathan from the Liber Floridus, Ghent, University Library.

Grubb, Nancy. Revelations: Art of the Apocalypse. New York: Abbeville Press, 1997.

This book contains a large number of images from various eras based on various passages of the Book of Revelation. The author gives short backgrounds on how the passages were interpreted.

Pg. 38 - The First Four Seals: The Four Horsemen from the Beatus of Liebana. The British Library, London.

Pg. 47 - The Final Arbiter by Roger Brown; courtesy Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY.

Pg. 66 - The Devil and the Antichrist from Luca Signorelli's The Last Judgment.  On the web at http://keptar.demasz.hu/arthp/html/s/signorel/index.htm

Pg. 67 - Anti-Christ on Globe by William A Blayney; courtesy Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY.

Pg. 72 - The Woman on the Beast: Angel Shows Saint John Vision of the Great Harlot Seated on a Seven Headed Monster from the Lambeth Apocalypse. Lambeth Palace Library, London.

Pg. 74 - The Whore of Babylon from the Luther Bible. Bible Society, London.

Pg. 75 - The Whore of Babylon Riding on a Beast with Seven Heads by Robert Roberg.

Pg. 79 - The Last Judgment by Giotto. Fresco in Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy.

Pg. 110 - The Devil Chained in the Abyss from the Beatus Liebana. The Pierpont Morgan Library, NY.

Pg. 111 - He Cast Him into the Bottomless Pit and Shut Him Up by William Blake.  On the web at http://www.nelepets.com/art/artists/b/Blake_William.htm

Pg. 114 - Casting the Damned into Hell, detail from The Last Judgment by Hans Memling.  On the web at http://btr0xw.rz.uni-bayreuth.de/cjackson/memling/p-memling33.htm

Pg. 116 - Hellmouth from The Table of Christian Faith by Dirc Van Delf. The Pierpoint Morgan Library, NY.

Pg. 122 - Vision of a Great Gulf on Planet Hell by Howard Finster. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Kumar, Krishan. "Apocalypse, Millennium and Utopia Today." In: Apocalypse Theory and the Ends of the World (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995), pp. 200-220.

A book dealing with several revelations and ideas of the Zoroaster, millenarianism, utopianism, and post-modernism. Post-modernism is the contemporary reason to explain the lack of devoted apocalyptic art in the 20th century.

Lehner, Ernest & Johanna. Picture Book of Devils, Demons and Witchcraft. New York: Dover, 1971.

A collection of prints that deal mainly with the illustrations of witchcraft, devils, demons, and death. This book was helpful only in getting a good picture of the four horsemen. There is little text.

Pg. 54 - Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer.  On the web at http://www.glyphs.com/art/durer/4horse.jpg

Morris, L. L. "Antichrist in the New Testament." Endtime: The Doomsday Catalog. New York: Collier, 1979.

A collection of modern thoughts, modern commentaries, and biblical passages that deal with living, death, tribulation, hell, heaven and the rapture.  I picked up several commentaries on modern interpretation of who might be the Antichrist and reasons of what the Antichrist symbolizes (see esp. pg. 105)..

Newton, Eric & Neil, William. 2000 Years of Christian Art. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.

This book is a history of Christian art that starts from the Byzantine age to contemporary time. The book was helpful to get a better understanding of where Christian art is today and where it is heading in the future.  See esp. pp. 270-278.

Paolucci, Antonio. Luca Signorelli. New York: Riverside, 1990.

This book is dedicated to color photographs of Signorelli's artwork. Each image is accompanied by one or two sentences of interpretation.

Patridge, Loren, Fabrizio Mancinelli and Gianluigi Colalucci. Michelangelo:The Last Judgment. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997.

Begins with an informative introduction to Michelangelo's Last Judgment and proceeds by dividing and interpreting each scene of the Sistine Chapel fresco. Large color photographs accompany the interpretation

The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.  On the web at http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/40-Judge.html

Paley, Morton D. William Blake. Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1978..

A brief autobiography of William Blake (pp. 7-20) and a collection of his paintings and poetry. It goes through Blake's artistic development and expression behind some of his artwork. Rabb, Theodore K. Renaissance Lives. New York: Pantheon Books, 1993.

A collection of the lives of several important figures of the Renaissance. Pages 52-71 cover the life and work of Albrecht Dürer, a German artist known for 14 woodcuts inspired by the Book of Revelation.

Riess, Jonathan B. Luca Signorelli:The San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto. New York: George Braziller, 1995.

A very informative book of not only Signorelli's work in the Orvieto Chapel but of the occurrences and changing beliefs within the church during his lifetime. The book goes on to discuss each scene and section of the frescos throughout the chapel.

Vaughn, William. William Blake. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1978.

The book contains several plates of William Blake's artwork and discusses the meaning behind some of his paintings.

Pg. 20 - Last Judgment by William Blake. Picture from Sussex, Petworth House. On the web at http://www.apocalyptic-theories.com/gallery/lastjudge/blake.html

Go to the Introduction                Go to the Comparative Analyses

Go to the Homepage for THST 398 - Revelation and Apocalyptic
or go to the Homepage of Prof. Felix Just, S.J.

Page content last modified on July 1, 2000;  links updated May 21, 2005.