Albrecht Dürer

A very good, evenly-printed and well-inked Meder d impression with strong contrasts and little to no sign of wear, printing with great clarity. With a fillet of paper around the borderline, trimmed to it at the upper edge. A bearded sea creature – half man, half fish – carries a young woman across the waves. In one hand, it wields a turtle shell pierced by a jawbone, used as a weapon. The abducted figure, scarcely covered by a cloth, appears curiously unfazed; her gaze is calm, almost detached. Her beauty stands in striking contrast to the bizarre and grotesque being that holds her tightly in its grasp. The scene draws on a mythological subject that has yet to be conclusively identified in iconographic terms. Albrecht Dürer himself referred to the print in the diary of his journey to the Netherlands as “Meerwunder“. The female nude reflects Dürer’s engagement with a new ideal of beauty rooted in reason and measurability – a concept inspired by classical antiquity and central to the spirit of the Renaissance (cf. R. Schoch, p. 74). The paper is slightly stained. Verso with isolated areas of thinning paper. Restoration on the left margin extending to the hands of the Oriental man, where the paper is wavy. Otherwise still in good condition.