{
"data": {
"id": 114740,
"accession_number": "1934.340",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "The Sea Monster, c. 1501. Albrecht D\u00fcrer (German, 1471\u20131528). Engraving; sheet: 24.5 x 18.6 cm (9 5/8 x 7 5/16 in.); mat size: 49 x 36.3 cm (19 5/16 x 14 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr., 1934.340",
"current_location": null,
"title": "The Sea Monster",
"creation_date": "c. 1501",
"creation_date_earliest": 1496,
"creation_date_latest": 1506,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Germany, late 15th-early 16th Century"
],
"technique": "engraving",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Prints",
"collection": "PR - Engraving",
"type": "Print",
"measurements": "Sheet: 24.5 x 18.6 cm (9 5/8 x 7 5/16 in.); Mat Size: 49 x 36.3 cm (19 5/16 x 14 5/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.245,
"height_inch": 9,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.625,
"width": 0.186,
"width_inch": 7,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.3125
},
"mat size": {
"height": 0.49,
"height_inch": 19,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.3125,
"width": 0.363,
"width_inch": 14,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.3125
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 356832,
"title": "Recent Accessions of Prints, 1933-34",
"description": "Recent Accessions of Prints, 1933-34. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-March 13, 1935).",
"opening_date": "1935-02-20T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 356365,
"title": "16th Century Prints from the Museum Collection",
"description": "16th Century Prints from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 4-29, 1935).",
"opening_date": "1935-12-04T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 345396,
"title": "Inaugural Exhibition of the New Print Gallery - Prints from the Museum Collection",
"description": "Inaugural Exhibition of the New Print Gallery - Prints from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 10-November 13, 1938).",
"opening_date": "1938-08-10T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 345694,
"title": "16th Century German Engravings",
"description": "16th Century German Engravings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1938-January 22, 1939).",
"opening_date": "1938-12-13T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 312341,
"title": "The Silver Jubilee Exhibition",
"description": "The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).",
"opening_date": "1941-06-23T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 310039,
"title": "Sacred and Profane in Late Gothic Prints",
"description": "Sacred and Profane in Late Gothic Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 2-August 2, 1987).",
"opening_date": "1987-06-02T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 205194,
"title": "D\u00fcrer's Women: Images of Devotion and Desire",
"description": "D\u00fcrer's Women: Images of Devotion and Desire. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 28, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2014-06-22T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309634,
"title": "Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders",
"description": "Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 7-October 6, 2019).",
"opening_date": "2019-07-07T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "The precise narrative of D\u00fcrer\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s companions across the river flail their arms in distress over her kidnapping. While it is clear that D\u00fcrer aimed to showcase his achievements in portraying a reclining female nude, her somewhat blas\u00e9 appearance and lack of struggle add to the peculiarity of this image.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7762767"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1934.340-the-sea-monster"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Francis, Henry. \"Engravings by Albrect D\u00fcrer.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 22, no. 4 (April 1935): 59-64.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: front cover; Mentioned: p. 62-63",
"url": "jstor.org/stable/25137693"
}
],
"catalogue_raisonne": "Meder 66",
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1934.340",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1934.340/1934.340_web.jpg",
"width": "685",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "556862",
"filename": "1934.340_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1934.340/1934.340_print.jpg",
"width": "2608",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "7828258",
"filename": "1934.340_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1934.340/1934.340_full.tif",
"width": "3780",
"height": "4928",
"filesize": "55918608",
"filename": "1934.340_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 114740,
"creators": [
{
"id": 11617,
"description": "Albrecht D\u00fcrer (German, 1471\u20131528)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1471",
"death_year": "1528",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1934-12-28T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1496,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1501",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 06:01:08.451000"
}
}