Reproductie van een prent met een allegorische voorstelling van het einde van de wereld door Joannes Galle before 1881

This print, made by an anonymous artist in the style of Joannes Galle, presents an allegorical vision of the world’s end, rendered with the etching technique. Here, we see potent symbols of apocalypse: war, famine, and divine judgment are all represented in separate vignettes around a central text panel. Consider the figure of the angel, poised with a sword or trumpet, motifs resonant with the depictions in the Book of Revelation. This figure, a messenger of divine will, appears across cultures and epochs, from ancient Zoroastrianism to Renaissance art. The angel's gesture, whether of destruction or announcement, embodies a pivotal moment of reckoning, echoing through time. The emotional weight of such symbols is immense. They tap into a collective memory of existential fears and hopes, resonating with our subconscious understanding of mortality and transformation. This cyclical progression is non-linear, these symbols reappear and evolve in different historical contexts, embodying a continuous, profound narrative about human destiny.