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Albrecht Durer, 'The Whore of Babylon', 1496-7

 


It is difficult for the eye to settle in the busy scene concocted by Durer, based on the story found in the Book of Revelations. The Whore of Babylon occupies the right hand side of the work, accompanied by her many headed monster, facing off against a crowd of onlookers, and being attacked from the heavens above. Despite the monochromatic colour range of the print, shading and varying levels of detail successfully capture the drama and action of the scene, whilst showing off Durer's printmaking abilities which defined the discipline for centuries to come. 

Each tuft of grass, each fallen rock, each puffing cloud, are all exceptionally detailed by Durer. In woodcuts, there is only linear and horizontal shading, not cross-hatching as would be found in etching or engraving, but this does not limit the artist's hand in his Apocalypse series. Figures are crammed together on the left-hand side of the work - a crowd of onlookers balancing the many headed monster accompanying the Whore of Babylon, as outlined in the Book of Revelations: '...a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns'. Durer has differentiated each head of the beast, making them as characterful as the figures opposite, some of whom crouch, interact with one another, or stand with their backs to the viewer. Using a stacked perspectival scheme, the landscape spills upwards, as the paper opens out to display an unusually calm middle section, with a long stretch of water and boats gently rowing across the picture plane. However, this is quickly replaced by the skies above, filled with a heavenly host preparing to tackle the beast below, and two heavily detailed angels filling the void in the centre of the work. The distinct differences between the gaps of white for the delicate clouds, allowing space for figures flying through the air, in contrast to the depth of shading and detail in the foreground crowd, create layers to Durer's woodcut. The piece is far from underworked, and these contrasts in light and shade are difficult to achieve through lines of print. 

Durer's series of The Apocalypse - fifteen woodcuts at the end of the fifteenth century - was the first set of large scale woodcuts of such detail and complexity in the history of Western printmaking, shaping the discipline and accompanying discourse. It also meant that Durer became the first artist to publish a book and create a copyright, as Martin Angerer records. Although it is a less well known episode from the series, versions of the Whore of Babylon exist across worldwide institutions including the MET, and one was recently sold at Christie's, highlighting the transmutability of prints into the present day. The complex gathering of characters, fluctuation of detail between tightly packed figures and elements of clearer space, all crammed into a single A4 piece of paper, encourage a viewer to look closely, study the work, and appreciate such complexities. 

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