Albrecht Dürer’s The Sea Monster

The Sea Monster, Lot 256
Engraving on handmade paper (ca. 1498)
25.4 × 19 cm (sheet size)

This outstanding sheet, known as The Sea Monster, is one of Albrecht Dürer’s most fascinating and enigmatic works. The print presented here is a strong, precise and clearly printed lifetime copy, especially in the distant landscape, which creates an impressive sense of depth.

The scene shows a bizarre sea monster – half human, half fish – holding a turtle shell in one hand and a jawbone as a weapon in the other.

His prey, which he holds tightly, is unimpressed and carries out to sea, covered only by a cloth. Its beauty is all the more striking in contrast to this bizarre mythical creature.

Depictions of sea monsters and abducted women have a long tradition in mythology, but Dürer’s Sea Monster remains open to interpretation in terms of its iconography to this day. Dürer himself simply referred to the sheet as ‘Sea Monster’ in his travel diary from the Netherlands.

The female nude deserves special attention, reflecting Dürer’s pursuit of a new Renaissance ideal of beauty – rationally justified and based on measurable proportions (cf. R. Schoch, p. 74). This artistic objective lends the sheet a timeless modernity.

Provenance:

• Frederic Robert Halsey (1847–1918), New York, verso with collector’s stamp (Lugt 1308), sold at Anderson Galleries, New York, The Frederic R. Halsey Collection of Prints, Part VII, 14 March 1917, lot 114, there titled ‘The Rape of Amymone’;
• Collection of Philip Pearlstein (1924–2022), renowned American painter who revitalised the genre of the nude in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Estimate: 70,000/ € 100,000

As announced in the print catalogue (page 22), Katharina Wieland, head of the print department, will personally present Albrecht Dürer’s print in an expert video.