The Hymn in Adoration of the Lamb

The Adoration of the Lamb (The Hymn of the Chosen) is an extraordinary and imaginative woodcut that was created by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, ca. 1496–1497. This woodcut was one piece in a complete series or suite, which was widely known as The Apocalypse.

Dürer originally published the suite under the Latin title of Apocalipsis c@m Figures or The Apocalypse with Pictures. The dimensions of this woodcut are 39.1 x 27.9 cm (or 15.38 x 11 inches.), and The Adoration of the Lamb can be viewed at the Rumyantsev Museum, in Moscow, Russia. The Adoration of the Lamb was the seventh out of fifteen pieces from The Apocalypse suite. This woodcut shows St John the Evangelist, who was to become one of Christ’s apostles kneeling in the front and behind the Saints who have encircled the venerated and mounted figure of the lamb - which is located at the top and centre. The scene of The Adoration of the Lamb is strongly associated with the religious book of Revelations, and specifically chapter 7.

Dürer has accurately depicted the figurative facets from Revelations in a formidable and motivating fashion. He has pictorially caught the essential viewpoints of the religious text: the sacred lamb, the adoring and awe-inspired followers, the Angels, the four beasts, and the conversation seen between the Elder Saints and St. John. It is interesting to note that the illuminated and revered lamb, which Dürer has detailed with numerous horns and eyes, is gazed upon by the adoring crowd of Angels and Saints. This woodcut reviews and combines the following sections (three places in total) from the text of the book of Revelations (Rev. 14:1-3, 19:1-4, 7:9-13).

Holistically the Apocalypse illustrates the faith of all early Christians, and their combined and individual religious affinity towards God. The fifteen woodcuts describe the forthcoming arrival of Christ as portrayed in the Bible. The complete series of woodcuts reveal what the prophets have foretold all the early Christians about Christ, and the wonderous presence he will give to everyone. The Apocalypse, and the associated fifteen woodcuts, is commonly regarded as among Dürer's most imaginative, motivating, and thought-rendering artistic works. The publication of the woodcuts within The Apocalypse had an overwhelming and immediate effect on Dürer's career, for it was with this suite that his standing as a Master of the Renaissance was exposed and fashioned throughout all of Germany. What was even more remarkable was the fact that Albrecht Dürer was only 26 years old when The Apocalypse was first published.