Giant Sea Serpent – a woodcut print by Conrad Gessner, a whole page from Fischbuch, 1598 art poster canvas gift

"Giant Sea Serpent" - an extraordinary woodcut hand-coloured print of a giant sea monster serpent attacking a ship by Conrad Gessner, from the third German edition of his Fischbuch, published in 1598 in Zurich.

Conrad Gessner (1516 - 1565) was a Swiss physician, bibliographer, natural historian, philologist and illustrator. He was born in Zurich, Switzerland, and studied languages, theology and medicine at university. Later as a City Physician he spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography (Bibliotheca universalis 1545–1549) and zoology (Historia animalium 1551–1558) and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from plaque at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. Over his lifetime he produced some 70 publications on many different subjects. In Historia animalium Gessner combines data from old sources, such as the Old Testament, Aristotle, Pliny, folklore, and medieval bestiaries. Gessner's books were illustrated with hand-coloured woodcut prints of many well-known animals, and some fictional ones, including unicorns, mermaids and serpents.

Gessner's woodcut of a giant sea serpent attacking a ship is notably similar to one by Olaus Magnus in his History of the Northern Peoples published in 1555. This remarkable leaf depicting the sea serpent is from the third German edition of Gessner's Fischbuch, published by Christoff Froschower in Zurich in 1598. This volume contains many additional illustrations by Gessner, based on his observations as well as on work of other naturalists of 16th century.

This poster is a high quality "giclée" reproduction of a restored antique original, custom-printed on Standard Single-weight Matt Coated art paper 140gsm or  Heavyweight Matt Coated art paper 230gsm (more of a thin card density), or superb Epson Matt Canvas 320gsm, according to your choice. We use the latest UltraChromeHDX pigment inks which guarantee 60 years of colour  permanence (up to 200 years fade-proof for colour prints).  This poster is suitable for mounting and framing, as well as direct display on a wall.