Griffin 1470 - 1491

Editor: This is Martin Schongauer's "Griffin," made sometime between 1470 and 1491. It's an engraving. And, wow, it’s so detailed! I am impressed how he uses line to convey such fantastical creature and to give a kind of intimidating presence to the animal. What stands out to you in this piece? Curator: Well, I find myself immediately transported to the shadowy, mystical forests of the late Middle Ages. Look at the precise, almost obsessive, detail in each feather and line. It's like Schongauer wasn't just depicting a griffin, but trying to conjure one. Makes you wonder what sort of mythical beasts haunted his dreams, doesn't it? I get a slightly terrifying sense, something wild and untamed. The meticulous detail almost adds to the feeling of impending doom. Editor: That's a great image: a terrifying dream. So you see this level of details more as unsettling than fascinating? Curator: I find both unsettling and utterly fascinating... It's in the knowing, practiced hand, and what's behind the technical mastery. The late medieval Europe was clinging to magic as science crept closer, and pieces like this show that fascinating, weird moment. What are your feelings now that we look at it together? Editor: I feel that even though Griffin is static and fixed on the print paper it is somehow scary and very powerful in its silence. It certainly leaves something to imagine. Curator: Beautifully put! It is in this silence the griffin roars. A lasting testament of our power of imagery.