As Dürer's interest in the classical nude and the appropriation of Italian art of the previous generation intensified, his subjects became increasingly mysterious. Whether he illustrated obscure mythological subjects suggested by his humanist friends, such as Pirckheimer, or whether he took elements of pre-existing images and myths to create his own fanciful subjects is impossible to determine. Legions of art historians have tried to unravel the iconography of the Seamonster and Hercules (see lot 8), without ever coming to a satisfying conclusion. In his diary of his Netherlandish journey Dürer laconically refers to the present work as the 'Meerwunder', and the first recorded description of the print, by Giorgio Vasari, is still as valid as any: una ninfa portata via da un Mostro Marino, mentre alcun'altre Ninfe si bagnano ('a nymph carried off by a seamonster, while some other nymphs bathe').
The present very fine impression was in the collection 19th century Italian-French sculptor and collector Baron Charles Marochetti.