The Views on the Apocalypse in Columbus' Era
How was the Apocalypse painted by notable artists in the era of Columbus?
Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; 1430 – 1494) was a German-born painter who moved to Flanders and worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He spent some time in the Brussels workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, and after Rogier's death in 1464, Memling was made a citizen of Bruges, where he became one of the leading artists, painting both portraits and diptychs for personal devotion and several large religious works, seamlessly continuing the style he learned in his youth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Memling
Above Memling's picture of the Apocalypse is rather peaceful. Probably it is because he died before 1500. Indeed opposite feeling is expressed by another artist who succeeded in his profession after 1500. Truly situations seems to have drastically changed after 1500, though Columbus reached the New World in 1492.
Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528)[2] was a German painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His high-quality woodcuts (nowadays often called Meisterstiche or "master prints") established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since. His vast body of work includes altarpieces, religious works, numerous portraits and self-portraits, and copper engravings. The woodcuts, such as the Apocalypse series (1498), retain a more Gothic flavour than the rest of his work. His well-known prints include the Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation.
The era of Columbus is directly linked to the era of Martin Luther (1483-1546). Let's see Luther's view on the Apocalypse.
Archives / 1951 / December
RESEARCH: Martin Luther and the End of the World
Daniel Walther
Luther was so impressed by the precarious- ness of the times in 1528 that he expected the end to come before he had time to finish the translation of the Old Testament...
The imminence of the end was indeed uppermost in his mind: "Things are going toward their end." And he added, "I hope the last day will not be long delayed, not over a hundred years..."
He shared the usual very old view that the world would stand six thousand years. Since it took seven days for the creation of the world, and since a day is like a thousand years, the world would stand six thousand years before the seven-thousandth year, which .was to be the millennium, a period of rest. But then, Luther was so impressed by the impending doom that he opined that the end might come in the midst of the sixth millennium. According to Luther's computation, the world was 5,500 years old in the year 1540, which was to be about the right time for the end of all things to occur...
Many of his sermons dealt directly with the end of the world and the coming of the Lord, such as the one on "the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." In 1544, shortly before his death, he wrote to a friend that he had nothing else to say than that he was hoping for Christ's return that same year...
Lastly, let us mention Luther's particular idea of Antichrist, whose "raging was a definite Sign of the end." Who was that Antichrist in Luther's mind? Interestingly, the Antichrist is applied to both the Pope and the Turk! "The person of the Antichrist is at the same time the Pope and the Turk. Every person consists of a body and a soul. So the spirit of the Antichrist is the Pope, his flesh is the Turk. The one has infested the Church spiritually, the other bod ily. However, both come from the same Lord, even the devil."
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1951/12/martin-luther-and-the-end-of-the-world
According to Luther's calculation, the world is now 6,000 years old. It seems reasonable to think that the Second Coming of Christ is in the early 21st century or before 2100 or Newton's 2060.
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As I wrote before, the Second Advent of Christ Jesus has started around 2010. Let's review how it was calculated so.
Newton focused on the year 800 when he calculated the year of the Second Advent, finally obtaining 2060 (= 800 + 1260).
Yet, from a global point of view, it is not 800 but 750 that should be the starting year of Newton's calculation. So, the Second Advent of Christ Jesus already started around 2010 (= 1260 + 750).
Under the Abbasids, Islamic civilization flourished in the "Islamic Golden Age" (c. 750 CE - c. 1258 CE), with its capital at the cosmopolitan city of Baghdad.
Although the city (Pella in Palestine where early Christians fled) was still inhabited as late as the tenth Century CE, it was the deadly earthquake of CE 747 that ended its long history as a city of major influence in the region.
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post_21.html
720 - The second oldest exisiting imperial chronicle and myth of Japan called Nihon Shoki (Record of Japan) was compiled following an imperial order. This book has become one of major documentary resources for shintoism.
752 - The world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha, called "Daibutsu" in Japanese, was built in Heijyo-kyo (Nara City), following an imperial order.
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2011/08/having-eyes-see-ye-not.html
"(Islamic) Golden Age" (750–1258)
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2011/08/have-ye-your-heart-yet-hardened.html
The Battle of Talas (or Battle of Artlakh in 751 AD between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty, resulting in transfer of paper production technology from China to Europe.
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/greater-than-all.html
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Joh 7:29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
Joh 7:30 Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
Joh 7:31 And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?