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Unknown artist

The Lamb Receiving the Sealed Book, folio C from The Apocalypse

1460/70
Blockbook woodcut hand-colored with brush, stencil and watercolor with additions in pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper
25.5 × 19.5 cm (10 × 7.7 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

The Apocalyptic Lamb of God in the lower roundel enraged an early viewer. Perhaps inspired by the crown of seven stubby horns and the seven eyes on the Lamb’s head, this unknown individual added a cluster of four semicircles just beneath its tail. The result seems blasphemous and rather juvenile, as the shapes resemble a series of turds spewing downward. Excrement became a common theme in Germany during the Reformation due to Martin Luther’s colorful rhetoric, and frequently appeared in satirical anti-Catholic woodcuts. As the pen and ink used here suggest an early annotation, perhaps it was made during this transitional period.

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