The Sea Monster
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 24.5 × 18.6 cm · mat size: 49 × 36.3 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
Accession Number
1934.340
Tags
male
About this artwork
The precise narrative of Dürer’s Sea Monster remains a source of debate among scholars because locating the origin of this imagery in either classical or German mythology has been difficult. The engraving depicts a woman’s abduction by a horned mythical hybrid creature that has the torso of a man and the tail of a fish. Set before a detailed coastal landscape featuring Nuremberg castle, the woman’s companions across the river flail their arms in distress over her kidnapping. While it is clear th...