Frontispiece – The Virgin Appearing to Saint John

Our journey into the Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer begins here, with the illustrated frontispiece of the 1511 Latin edition.

It functions as a symbolic threshold for the entire series, the point at which the vision takes shape.

Saint John is shown writing, when he is suddenly interrupted. The eagle, his symbol as an Evangelist, stands beside him.

He raises his gaze: the Virgin with Child appears before him. She is seated on a crescent moon, crowned and surrounded by rays of light.

With this powerful image, Dürer does not simply introduce the narrative, but invites the viewer to enter the vision alongside John.

From this moment on, what unfolds no longer belongs to the earthly realm, but to that of revelation.