The problem of the narrator in the medieval iconography of St. John’s Apocalypse on the example of Apocalypse of Angers

Abstract

The monumental tapestry dating back to the 14^th century with images coming from St. John's Apocalypse, kept at present in the Angers castle, was designed on the basis of the iconographic program of the so-called Anglo-French apocalypses. In the unusually rich cycle of images contained in that group of illuminated manuscripts the figure of St. John is stressed in an unprecedented way. The present text is an attempt at referring the way of presentation of the author and narrator of Apocalypse to the miniature tradition and at pointing to the function of his figure in the narrative structure of the work.