12, Signs of the Apocalypse

Books of Hours are one of the richest sources of medieval apocalyptic imagery. In Thielman Kerver’s 1507 printing, over seventy images relating to the Signs of the Apocalypse appear within the margins of its Hours of the Trinity and the Office of the Dead. Apocalyptic iconography is commonly found accompanying the prayer cycles of the Office of the Dead in late medieval Books of Hours, although it is less common in the Hours of the Trinity, making this placement in this Book of Hours unusual. In this text, the images depicting the Signs of the Apocalypse can be separated into three different iconographic traditions: The Seven Signs of the Apocalypse, the Fifteen Signs Before Doomsday and the Apocalypse of Saint John.https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/kerverbook/1017/thumbnail.jp