Albrecht Dürer 1471 – 1528

The Harlot of Babylon

woodcarving (40 × 29 cm) — 1511 Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Albrecht Dürer biography

This work is linked to Revelation 17:3

Seated on a dragon a woman leaves a trail of destruction. The "scarlet coloured beast" with seven heads and ten horns seems to be the same dragon as the one in Revelation 13. The woman had "a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication".

At the end of Revelation 17 she is identified as "that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth": Rome.

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