That Dürer had a fixation on the idea of apocalypse is clear from his earlier work. In 1498, Dürer had won fame for his energetic, even aggressive illustrations of the Book of Revelation, including his most famous print “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” in which he illustrates the famous passage of Revelation 6:1-8. In the image, Dürer’s apocalypse is sudden and violent; it is full and chaotic as the people of the world are trampled under the feet of four large horses ridden by the personifications of death, famine, war and plague.

In another illustration for the Apocalypse series, “The Whore of Babylon,” we see again the warlike nature of the last judgment. Material society, physical existence, is depicted as evil and in need of severe punishment by an army of goodness, here depicted as swooping down from the heavens to extinguish evil on earth.