Revelation of St. John: Martyrdom of St. John

Revelation of St. John: Martyrdom of St. John by Albrecht Dürer, created in 1511, is a pivotal work in the history of German printmaking. This detailed woodcut belongs to Dürer’s highly influential Apocalypse series, which revolutionized the medium and established the artist as the preeminent master of the Northern Renaissance. The composition illustrates the legendary, though apocryphal, attempt to martyr St. John the Evangelist by immersing him in a massive cauldron of boiling oil outside the Porta Latina in Rome.

Dürer’s genius lies in his ability to imbue the traditionally coarser woodcut technique with the richness and complexity usually reserved for copper engraving. He uses varying line weights, intricate cross-hatching, and deep contrasts to define volumes, capture the terror of the moment, and detail the bustling crowd of onlookers, including the Roman emperor Domitian seated at the upper left. This mastery elevates the graphic arts, transforming the woodcut from a simple reproductive medium into a powerful vehicle for artistic expression that defined the style of the period in Germany.

This impression dates from the second Latin edition of the Apocalypse, issued by the artist in 1511, alongside the publication of his other great print cycles. The enduring visual force of the piece demonstrates why Dürer’s prints were widely circulated and profoundly impacted subsequent generations of artists. As a foundational work of the German Renaissance, it remains highly studied, often accessible via the public domain. This significant example of Revelation of St. John: Martyrdom of St. John is maintained within the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.