Plaquette thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Plaquette

1914 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This plaquette, one of four plaquettes (127 to 130-1920) representing the riders of the Apocalypse, was made by Theodor von Gosen in Germany, 1914. The Apocalypse was already a subject widespread in European art in about 1900, and was common in German expressionist art by 1914. One of the sources here is probably Dürer's engraving of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The form of the inscription of the reverse is based on those seen on German Renaissance medals. The rider in this plaquette represents the scourages of human kind: war, death, famine, and destruction.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Brief description
Plaquette, fourth horseman of Apocalypse/inscrp; Bronze German 1914. T.Gosen.
Physical description
Obv., a skeleton carrying a scourge in his left hand, and an unsheathed sword balanced on the right shoulder, riding an emaciated horse. Two grotesque figures with animal heads, and an owl behind. Below in the background, a deserted battlefield and a town in ruins is shown. Rev., a legend.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 97mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • "MCMXIV," "TG" (obv.)
  • "UND/ICH SAH UND/SIEHE EIN FAHL PFERD/UND DRAUF SASS DESS/NAME HEISS TOD UND DIE/HÖLLE FOLGETE IHM NACH/UND IHNEN WARD MACHT/GEGEBEN ZU TÖTEN DAS/VIERTE TEIL AUF DER FRDE/MIT DEM SCHWERTE/UND HUNGER UND/MIT DEM TODE." (rev.)
    Translation
    "So I looked and saw there a cream-white horse; its rider was called Death, and Hell went at his bridle rein; he was allowed to have his way with all the four quarters of the world, killing men by the sword, by famine by plague. (Apocalypse VI, 8)"
Subjects depicted
Summary
This plaquette, one of four plaquettes (127 to 130-1920) representing the riders of the Apocalypse, was made by Theodor von Gosen in Germany, 1914. The Apocalypse was already a subject widespread in European art in about 1900, and was common in German expressionist art by 1914. One of the sources here is probably Dürer's engraving of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The form of the inscription of the reverse is based on those seen on German Renaissance medals. The rider in this plaquette represents the scourages of human kind: war, death, famine, and destruction.
Bibliographic reference
Gullen, Lucy, Fisher, Wendy and Nobert Jopek. [Exhibition handlist] 'One by One': European Commemorative Medals of the Great War 1914-1918. Victoria and London: Albert Museum, 1998. p. 30. Handlist of exhibition held Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1998-1999. no. 5
Collection
Accession number
A.130-1920

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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