Opening of the Sixth Seal

Prints and Drawings

1555

Jean Duvet
French, 1485-after 1561

In one of John’s first visions of the end of the world (Revelation 6:9–15), the opening of the sixth seal unleashes the Last Judgment. The sun and moon peeping out from under the altar suggests this breach marks an irrevocable astronomical as well as spiritual event. The pious dead—with their foreheads marked with a cross by God—rise into Heaven, while the gates of Hell open to receive those unworthy of salvation. Others, tormented into a crazed state by locusts, clamor for death and the fiery pit, which their satanic overlord is all too willing to grant.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Jean Duvet
Title: Opening of the Sixth Seal
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1555
Medium: Engraving in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions: Image/sheet: 30.5 × 21.2 cm (12 1/16 × 8 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.
Reference Number: 1956.1051
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/4395/manifest.json

Eisler 43

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.