A contemporary version of The Myriad Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
At first glance, the image above looks like a fragment of a medieval tapestry: armored riders charging forward, people crushed beneath their horses. But look again. The riders are not medieval knights. Their faces resemble figures from today’s headlines — Xi Jinping, Ali Khamenei, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Vladimir Putin.
This modern image reimagines one of the most striking scenes from the Apocalypse Tapestry in Angers, the panel often called The Myriad Horsemen. The original 14th-century tapestry illustrates the terrifying armies described in the Book of Revelation. (For the story behind the tapestry itself, see: The Apocalypse Tapestry, Château d’Angers, Angers (France).)
But medieval viewers probably saw more than a biblical vision. Europe was reeling from the Black Death and the destruction of the Hundred Years’ War. The riders even wear the armor of contemporary soldiers. To many people in 14th-century France, the apocalypse did not feel symbolic — it felt like the news of the day.
This modern reinterpretation simply continues that tradition.
Each age replaces the riders with the figures that embody its own anxieties. In the Middle Ages, they could evoke the armies ravaging France. Today, they may evoke a world unsettled by wars, rival powers, and a fragile international order.
The faces change. The uneasy sense of living in dangerous times does not.