The Four Apostles

The Four Apostles is a panel painting by the German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer. It was finished in 1526, the last of his large works. It depicts the four apostles larger-than-life-size. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian I obtained The Four Apostles in the year 1627 due to pressure on the Nuremberg city fathers. Since then, the painting has been in Munich and, despite all the efforts of Nuremberg since 1806, it has not been returned.

When Dürer moved to Nuremberg he produced many famous paintings there, including several self-portraits. He gifted The Four Apostles to the town council. Saints John and Peter appear in the left panel; the figures in the right panel are Saints Mark and Paul. Mark and Paul both hold Bibles, and John and Peter are shown reading from the opening page of John's own Gospel. At the bottom of each panel, quotations from the Bible are inscribed.

The apostles are recognizable by their symbols:

• John the Evangelist: open book
• St. Peter: keys
• St. Mark: scroll
• St. Paul: sword and closed book

They are also associated with the four temperaments.

• John: sanguine
• St. Peter: phlegmatic
• St. Mark: choleric
• St. Paul: melancholy

See also

• Portrait of Jakob Muffel