The Abduction on a Unicorn
1516
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1516
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
This etching shows a woman fighting hard as a man drags her off on a unicorn. The beast looks scary with a crooked horn and split hooves. Medieval stories sometimes saw unicorns as bad omens, not just pure creatures. Dürer often painted puzzling scenes like this. He didn’t explain his work much. Scholars still debate who these people are and what the unicorn means. Check out Dürer’s other odd scenes of women to compare.
![Madonna and Child [obverse]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/d7b8ebf05d22ebe5/thumb.webp)
![Lot and His Daughters [reverse]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/b4ebf9b282faa17a/thumb.webp)
