The Four Avenging Angels

The vision grows more ominous. God gives the trumpets to the angels and commands that one be sounded. This is the signal: four angels bound near the river Euphrates are released, ready to destroy a third of humanity. Dürer fills the sky with riders mounted on monstrous creatures with tails like serpents and heads like lions. Fire, smoke, and sulphur issue from their mouths. Among the terrified crowd, a pope with a tiara, an emperor with a crown, and a bishop with a mitre can be distinguished: no one can escape divine judgement.