Allegory: Combat of Animals in Presence of Man with a Shield, Master of the Beheading of Saint John

Artwork Overview

Master of the Beheading of Saint John, Allegory: Combat of Animals in Presence of Man with a Shield
Master of the Beheading of Saint John, Allegory: Combat of Animals in Presence of Man with a Shield
Master of the Beheading of Saint John
Allegory: Combat of Animals in Presence of Man with a Shield
early 1500s
Allegory: Combat of Animals in Presence of Man with a Shield, early 1500s
Where object was made: Italy
Material/technique: engraving
Dimensions:
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 221 x 318 mm
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 8 11/16 x 12 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 x 19 in
Credit line: Gift of the Max Kade Foundation
Accession number: 1969.0114
Not on display
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Exhibition Label: "Cabinets of Curiosity: Musing About Collections," Jun-2006, Joseph Keehn and Madeline Rislow These two prints, separated by nearly 500 years, concern creatures whose horns have long been considered to have magical and aphrodisiacal powers. In the print by the Master of the Beheading of Saint John, the unicorn has a spiral horn, indicating that the artist considered the tusk of a narwhal to be a horn of a unicorn (images of smooth unicorn horns are believed to have been based on rhinocerous horns). Ole Worm, whose cabinet of curiosities is shown here in book form, demonstrated that the horns collected as unicorn horns were, in fact, the long tusk of the narwhal.