REVELATION (or the APOCALYPSE)

Phrases from Revelation, like "the wrath of God" and "washed in the blood of the Lamb" express ideas and images familiar to Christians and non-Christians alike. Many, like "Armageddon" have become titles and themes of classical and popular culture. The rich visual language describing symbols and scenes is the source of thousands of art works depicting the events narrated by John.

Eleanor Milne has used episodes from Revelation in her recent paintings. For example, the polyptych in the Gallery on our website represents how God is revealed to John, seated upon a throne holding in His right hand a scroll sealed with seven seals. The opening of the seven seals will show John the "things which must be hereafter," including many horrible calamities which will have to be suffered before the final redemption. As the opening of each of the first four seals is announced by one of four creatures covered with eyes (symbols of knowledge), a horseman appears. The horsemen are Victory, War, Hunger (or Famine) and Death, shown here in a detail from the painting. Instead of painting Death in the traditional way, as a skeleton, Milne has used the more topical and more frightening image of AIDS as Death.