Duvet Studying the Apocalypse (1555): Artwork and History

Duvet Studying the Apocalypse (1555) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Jean Duvet French, 1485-after 1561.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Jean Duvet portrayed himself as John the Evangelist in this frontispiece to the Apocalypse. He holds an engraver’s burin and has inscribed his name on the arched, copperplate-like tablet at his left: “Jean Duvet, goldsmith of Langres, aged seventy, has completed these histories in 1555.” Duvet’s attribute is not the eagle, but rather a menacing swan. Swimming toward him with an arrow in his beak, the bird and the ship of the three Fates above it bear ill tidings: “Death is upon me and my hands tremble, my sight fails, yet the spirit remains victorious and I have completed my great work.”

Object facts

• Title: Duvet Studying the Apocalypse
• Date: 1555
• Artist attribution: Jean Duvet French, 1485-after 1561
• Place of origin: France
• Medium: Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: Image: 29.6 × 21 cm (11 11/16 × 8 5/16 in.); Sheet: 30.3 × 21.9 cm (11 15/16 × 8 5/8 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1956.1049

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.