This engraving depicts a crowd examining a beached sperm whale on a Dutch shore in 1601. Scientifically minded Dutch collectors in this period prized first-hand accounts of non-native or migratory animals. Artist Jan Saenredam highlighted his direct observation of the whale by picturing himself on the lower left, finishing, as written in the inscription, “a very accurate drawing, in accordance with the geometrical proportions of limbs and muscles, of the ominous sea monster.” Despite a lack of scientific evidence, beached whales were considered bad omens and blamed for catastrophic events like earthquakes, plagues, and eclipses, represented around the decomposing whale parts at the top of the print.