Lot Essay
The iconography of this print has been the subject of much controversy. Drer referred to it as 'Das Meerwunder' in his Netherlands Diary, and Vasari as 'a nymph being carried away by a sea monster'. Various mythological interpretations have been suggested by scholars over the past two centuries: the story of Glaucus and Scylla, of Achelous and Perimela, or the Rape of Amymone. Konrad Lange however found none of these explanations satisfactory, and linked the imagery with the folktales of the Adriatic coast in Italy of the time. A number told of sea monsters that abducted young women and took them out to sea. Panofsky agreed with Lange's interpretation, and related the print to a story by Poggio Bracciolini, 'wherein the horrifying story of Triton, told in Pausanias's description of Tanagra, is transferred to the fifteenth century and the coast of Dalmatia. A monster, half human, half piscine, with little horns and flowing beard, was in the habit of abducting children and young girls enjoying themselves on the beach, until it was killed by five determined washerwomen.'
The reclining nude derives from a type dating back to antiquity. This model seems to have been popular in Quattrocento Italy and is found, for example, in Botticelli's Mars and Venus (National Gallery, London). The landscape behind the figures is based on the views Drer recorded in watercolours on his journey through the Alps to Venice. The castle has been identified as that of Nuremberg. Ravenel and Levenson, in the Washington exhibition catalogue 'Drer in America: His Graphic Work' (1971), beautifully describe the effects the artist achieves: '... in his engraved landscapes, Drer capitalized on the clarity of the medium and devised techniques for overcoming many of its limitations. In this print the blank alone could speak for the billowing clouds, but he heightened their brilliance by juxtaposing a contrasting area of striated tone - an equivalent for the clear blue sky - rendered with a concentration of long, horizontal lines. For the foliage and mountainous terrain he varied the length, depth and density of his strokes to achieve contrasts of texture and shadow. For the most deeply toned and richly textured surfaces, he left a light burr on the plate to hold more ink. Finally, by wiping the plate clean, Drer let a bright, contrasting light fall across the landscape, while relying upon his burin work to control the illumination.'
The reclining nude derives from a type dating back to antiquity. This model seems to have been popular in Quattrocento Italy and is found, for example, in Botticelli's Mars and Venus (National Gallery, London). The landscape behind the figures is based on the views Drer recorded in watercolours on his journey through the Alps to Venice. The castle has been identified as that of Nuremberg. Ravenel and Levenson, in the Washington exhibition catalogue 'Drer in America: His Graphic Work' (1971), beautifully describe the effects the artist achieves: '... in his engraved landscapes, Drer capitalized on the clarity of the medium and devised techniques for overcoming many of its limitations. In this print the blank alone could speak for the billowing clouds, but he heightened their brilliance by juxtaposing a contrasting area of striated tone - an equivalent for the clear blue sky - rendered with a concentration of long, horizontal lines. For the foliage and mountainous terrain he varied the length, depth and density of his strokes to achieve contrasts of texture and shadow. For the most deeply toned and richly textured surfaces, he left a light burr on the plate to hold more ink. Finally, by wiping the plate clean, Drer let a bright, contrasting light fall across the landscape, while relying upon his burin work to control the illumination.'