Although most of Durer's prints and many of his paintings deal, not surprisingly, with religious subject matter, some, like The Sea Monster, reveal that the artist's interests were broader in scope. The exact meaning of the engraving remans unclear. Some scholars have suggested that it alludes to classical mythology, but other opinions indicate that the subject can best be explained by superstition and by various rumors and stories that were circulated at the time.

Born in Nurnberg in northern Bavaria in 1471, he learned the art of engraving on metal from his father who was a goldsmith. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the painter Michael Wolgemut for a five-year period. Travel through central Europe with visits to Colmar, Basel, Strasbourg and then south to Venice provided the young artist further experience. In the mid-1490s he returned to his native city. It was there that The Sea Monster and his other important works were created.

Source: Bulletin, May-June, 1981.