Painting the Apocalypse in 1496

This fascinating video is about a work by Albrecht Dürer, a painter and printmaker regarded as the foremost German Renaissance artist. In these two videos (a short and a long version) an art historian explains why one of his well known works holds a seemingly apocalyptic image on its reverse side.

Dürer, like many in his time, was bombarded by predictions that the world was soon to end and in response, he became obsessed, He created a 1498 book containing 15 woodcuts depicting scenes from the Book of Revelation, which brought him fame across Europe. Below, the front and back of Saint Jerome.

Here is the full version, about 13 minutes.

The shorter version provides a quick summary, about 2:45 minutes (go here for that video)