Woodcut printing became popular in early 15th-century Europe, as paper became cheaper and more widely available. (18) _______. Often hand-coloured, they were eventually combined with movable type to illustrate text.

The painter and printmaker Michael Wolgemut was instrumental in reinvigorating the woodcut after a decline in quality in the mid-15th century. (19) _______. As a young man, Dürer was Wolgemut’s apprentice, but his skill with the woodcut was to far surpass that of his master.

Dürer did not invent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: the scene comes from the Book of Revelation, a popular source for biblical illustrations in the Middle Ages. (20) _______. Many people believed that it prophesied the end times, and as the year 1500 approached, images of violent events grew increasingly common.

Born in Nuremberg in 1471, Albrecht Dürer was the son of a goldsmith. (21) _______. As well as creating prints on religious themes, Dürer produced numerous drawings, watercolours, and prints of plants and animals. (22) _______. Dürer died in Nuremberg in 1528, the greatest figure of Renaissance art in northern Europe.

(Adapted from “The Art Book”, DK)