Die apokalyptischen Reiter

For this painting Steinle drew on a text from the New Testament. In the Revelation to John, which is depicted in the lower left hand corner of the painting, and which appears miniscule in comparison to the group of apocalyptic riders, the Christian vision of the end of the world is told. Steinle provides an extremely dramatic depiction of this vision. The horsemen attack from the right hand edge of the picture, the ghostly “Death” on his sallow horse swinging the scythe, preparing to strike, while the allegory of war raises his sword.

Edward Jakob von Steinle was a member of the Nazarenes, a circle of artists who pursued the religious renewal of art, orienting themselves on role models such as Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) and Raffael (1483–1520). However his choice of motif also has a historical background. Between 1830 and 1840 Europe was struck by a cholera epidemic which a number of his contemporaries interpreted as an unmistakable sign of the imminent end of the world.