print
- Museum number
- E,4.163
- Description
-
Abduction of a young nude woman by a bearded man on a unicorn. 1516
Etching
- Production date
- 1516
- Dimensions
-
Height: 307 millimetres
-
Width: 212 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Further select lit: Mrs C. Heaton, 'The History of the Life of Albrecht Dürer', London, 1870, p.187; J. Poesch, 'Sources for Two Dürer Enigmas', Art Bulletin, xlvi, 1964, pp.82ff; Rowlands 1971, 226.
Entry from 'Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy', exh cat BM 2002-3, no.143:
The way in which Dürer has used the white of the paper to cast an unnatural light on this scene of struggling figures, whose limbs jar against each other in striking diagonals, emphasises the vicious nature of the subject. The unicorn is normally a symbol of purity, but here its goat-like whiskers are more suggestive of witchcraft (see cat.no 178 ). The print was commented on by Mrs Heaton, an early English biographer of Dürer, in the following terms: 'a wild, weird conception that produces a most uncomfortable shuddering impression on the beholder'. The main outlines of the figures have been traced from a pen and ink study for the print in New York, in which a horse instead of a unicorn is represented (Pierpont Morgan Library; Strauss 1516/5).
Dürer produced only six etchings, all between c.1515 and 1518 (see cat.nos 142, 186). Early etchers often experienced difficulties in using iron plates which rusted quickly, and in controlling the acid as it etched the design into the plate. These problems must have frustrated Dürer, who was so accomplished at the precision demanded of the engraver's burin, and may have deterred him from experimenting further with the technique.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1971 BM, Dürer, no.226
2024, 29 Mar - 22 Sept, Perth Musesum and Art Gallery, Perth, UNICORN: A Cultural History
- Acquisition date
- 1799
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- E,4.163
