Lair of the Sea Serpent
ca. 1899
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
12 x 30 in. (30.5 x 76.2 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Harold G. Henderson, 1976
Accession Number
1976.106.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Elihu Vedder's *Lair of the Sea Serpent* (ca. 1899), an evocative oil on canvas measuring 12 x 30 inches, transports viewers to a mystical beachscape haunted by serpentine creatures. This American artist's imaginative composition, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, blends rugged shorelines with mythical menace, inviting contemplation of nature's hidden dangers. Vedder (1836–1923), a key figure in late 19th-century American art, drew from Symbolism and the Aesthetic Movement, often infusing his works with dreamlike allegory and exotic mysticism. Having spent much of his ...
About the Artist
Elihu Vedder · 1836–1923
Elihu Vedder was born on February 26, 1836, in New York City to Dr. Elihu Vedder Sr., a dentist, and his cousin Elizabeth Vedder. As a young boy, his family relocated to Cuba for his father's ventures, an experience that sparked his artistic aspirations amid the Caribbean landscapes. He later divided his time between a boarding school and his maternal grandfather Alexander Vedder's home in Schenec...