The Griffin (c. 1480–90): Art, History and Details

The Griffin (c. 1480–90) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

According to medieval bestiaries (books of beasts), the griffin is an imaginary and immensely dangerous creature, believed to carry off humans and oxen. Usually depicted with the body of a lion and the head, wings, and claws of an eagle, the griffin symbolizes both courage and vigilance. Its dual nature also signifies that of Christ himself: divine (bird) and human (animal). Martin Schongauer's griffin is an unusual combination of an eagle and an ox—see the back hoofed paws—departing from the traditional representation of this animal as part eagle and part lion. With a few bold strokes of the burin, Schongauer rendered in a naturalistic way the shape and texture of the feathers and fur of this fabled beast.

Object facts

• Title: The Griffin
• Date: c. 1480–90
• Creator attribution: Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 10.8 x 10.3 cm (4 1/4 x 4 1/16 in.); Mat Size: 49 x 36.2 cm (19 5/16 x 14 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1926.466

A detail from the museum

Compare Schongauer's griffin with two CMA sculptures of the same subject, once placed as guardian figures in the portal of an Italian Romanesque Christian church (1928.861.1 and 1928.861.2).

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928.
• Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.
• Mikolic, Amanda. A Field Guide to Medieval Monsters. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.