[10] The ship, captained by Francisco Pereira Coutinho,[11] and two companion vessels, all loaded with exotic spices, sailed across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and north through the Atlantic, stopping briefly in Mozambique, Saint Helena and the Azores. Europe was witnessing a revolution in how the animal kingdom was perceived. In the context of the Renaissance, it was a piece of classical antiquity which had been rediscovered, like a statue or an inscription. This famous sketch of a rhinoceros was created in 1515 by the influential German artist, Albrecht Dürer, reflecting the growing interest in foreign curiosities that had emerged in tangent with the overseas voyages of exploration, commerce and conquest by the Spanish and Portuguese. The earliest known image of the animal illustrates a poemetto by Florentine Giovanni Giacomo Penni, published in Rome on 13 July 1515, fewer than eight weeks after its arrival in Lisbon. [1] The image was based on a written description and brief sketch by an unknown artist of an Indian rhinoceros that had arrived in Lisbon earlier that year. See Clarke, p.19, for a photograph of a gargoyle. [22] A second letter of unknown authorship was sent from Lisbon to Nuremberg at around the same time, enclosing a sketch by an unknown artist. It is a world in which the nations of Europe were competing not just in Europe itself but across the globe in Asia as well as the Americas. Dürer hatte das Nashorn selbst nie gesehen. Artist: Albrecht Dürer (German, Nuremberg 1471–1528 Nuremberg) Date: 1515. It is the size of an elephant but has shorter legs and is almost invulnerable. Together with other precious gifts of silver plate and spices, the rhinoceros, with its new collar of green velvet decorated with flowers, embarked in December 1515 for the voyage from the Tagus to Rome. Home Biography Rhinoceros Legacy of Durer Bibliography Biography Education. But Durer’s “Rhinoceros” is more than just the depiction of an exotic beast. [48], Until the late 1930s, Dürer's image appeared in school textbooks in Germany as a faithful image of the rhinoceros;[7] and it remains a powerful artistic influence. Rhinoceros . 473x327 (35929 octets) ( fr:Rhinocéros Rhinocéros dessiné par fr:Albrecht_Dürer Albrecht Dürer en fr:1515 1515. Durer’s text at the top of the woodcut confirms the impression that the image gives of a powerful fighting beast feared even by elephants. [44], The pre-eminent position of Dürer's image and its derivatives declined from the mid-to-late-18th century when more live rhinoceroses were transported to Europe, shown to the curious public, and depicted in more accurate representations. [23] Dürer – who was acquainted with the Portuguese community of the factory at Antwerp[24] – saw the second letter and sketch in Nuremberg. Clarke, caption to colour plate I, p.181. [37] This was the seventh of the eight editions in all of the print. Eventually, it was supplanted by more realistic drawings and paintings, particularly those of Clara the rhinoceros, who toured Europe in the 1740s and 1750s. When Durer was young he le arned how to be a goldsmith like his father. The elephant is afraid of the rhinoceros, for, when they meet, the rhinoceros charges with its head between its front legs and rips open the elephant's stomach, against which the elephant is unable to defend itself. On Trinity Sunday, 3 June, Manuel arranged a fight with a young elephant from his collection, to test the account by Pliny the Elder that the elephant and the rhinoceros are bitter enemies. This may be Dürer's attempt to reflect the rough and almost hairless hide of the Indian rhinoceros, which has wart-like bumps covering its upper legs and shoulders. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Asian animals previously imported for circuses and gladitorial events became scarce or non-existent in Western Europe. ‎Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) who achieved fame throughout Europe for the power of his images. Consequently, the historical impact of the woodcut was enormous. All Rights Reserved. [2] In late 1515, the King of Portugal, Manuel I, sent the animal as a gift for Pope Leo X, but it died in a shipwreck off the coast of Italy in early 1516. Rhinoceros Albrecht Dürer 1515. If a stuffed rhinoceros did arrive in Rome, its fate remains unknown: it might have been removed to Florence by the Medici or destroyed in the 1527 sack of Rome. ‘Rhinoceros’ was created in 1515 by Albrecht Durer in Northern Renaissance style. Whereas, in the past, the study of zoology had been guided by classical authorities, there was a growing sense that firsthand observation was also of vital importance. [2] Dürer never saw the actual rhinoceros, which was the first living example seen in Europe since Roman times. Albrecht Dürer The Rhinoceros (B. So he began to a prepare a pen sketch relying on the written description and the sketch made by an unknown artist. Albrecht Durer. It is the colour of a speckled tortoise,[28] and is almost entirely covered with thick scales. Martin Lorenz and Joan Pastor: VLNL TpDuro (2019). Discover and collect art from Albrecht Dürer’s iconic The Rhinoceros series and more. After a relatively fast voyage of 120 days, the rhinoceros was finally unloaded in Portugal, near the site where the Manueline Belém Tower was under construction. British Museum London, United Kingdom. It has been said of Dürer's woodcut: "probably no animal picture has exerted such a profound influence on the arts".[7]. The rhinoceros travelled in a ship full of spices. Rhinocerus (Rhinoceros) by Albrecht Dürer. Extremely popular, it went through eight editions. The rhinoceros’ horn is much larger and imposing than in nature and, indeed, Durer shows the animal as having a second, smaller, spiral horn on its back. Original upload log (suppr) (actu) 17 juin 2005 à 22:56 . His form is here represented. David nalle: Albrecht Durer Gothic. Albrecht Durer. Although the letterpress text atop this broadsheet suggests otherwise, he in fact copied the woodcut from a drawing and a description given by an eyewitness before the ship carrying this gift for the king of Portugal sank on the way from India. Some reports say that the mounted skin was sent to Rome, arriving in February 1516, to be exhibited impagliato (Italian for "stuffed with straw"), although such a feat would have challenged 16th-century methods of taxidermy, which were still primitive. It lives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is an emblem of the world of his time. The mission returned without an agreement, but diplomatic gifts were exchanged, including the rhinoceros. Rhinoceros. Le dessin est reporté sur le bois, puis gravé à la pointe et au burin, ensuite le tirage de la gravure fait que le sens est inversé sur la feuille par rapport au dessin initial. Only one impression (example) of Burgkmair's image has survived,[34] whereas Dürer's print survives in many impressions. [36] Images derived from it were included in naturalist texts, including Sebastian Münster's Cosmographiae (1544), Conrad Gessner's Historiae Animalium (1551), Edward Topsell's Histoire of Foure-footed Beastes (1607) and many others. The previous year, the Pope had been very pleased with Manuel's gift of a white elephant, also from India, which the Pope had named Hanno. Dürer produced a first edition of his woodcut in 1515, in the first state, which is distinguished by only five lines of text in the heading. Dürer's "Rhinoceros" was part of the exhibition "Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe," which was on view September 6–December 10, 2011 at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Rhinoceros. To the modern eye it does not appear to be a very realistic depiction of a rhinoceros. (21.3 x 29.5 cm) trimmed to block line except at top sheet: 9 3/8 x 11 3/4 in. [25][26] and printed a reversed reflection of it.[20][27]. His skill can be seen in the delicate shading and the intricate patterning of the animal’s hide. None of these features is present in a real rhinoceros,[5][6] although the Indian rhinoceros does have deep folds in its skin that can look like armor from a distance. Le Rhinocéros de Dürer est une gravure sur bois d’Albrecht Dürer datée de 1515.L’image est fondée sur une description écrite et un bref croquis par un artiste inconnu d’un rhinocéros indien (Rhinoceros unicornis) débarqué à Lisbonne plus tôt dans l’année. The geometrical overlays reminiscent of Duerer are another recurrent theme in Manfred Klein's work. The Rhinoceros. A rhinoceros that was clearly based on Dürer's woodcut was chosen by Alessandro de' Medici as his emblem in June 1536, with the motto "Non vuelvo sin vencer" (old Spanish for "I shall not return without victory"). Manuel decided to give the rhinoceros as a gift to the Medici Pope Leo X. [41] A sculpture of a rhinoceros based on Dürer's image was placed at the base of a 70-foot (21 m) high obelisk designed by Jean Goujon and erected in front of the Church of the Sepulchre in the rue Saint-Denis in Paris in 1549 for the royal entry welcoming the arrival of the new King of France, Henry II. Albrecht Dürer never saw a rhinoceros in real life. ), This page was last edited on 28 December 2020, at 23:58. [17] The vessel passed near Marseille in early 1516. Work location: Deutsch: Nürnberg, Augsburg, Venedig, Niederlande. Meder 1932 / Dürer Katalog (273.1) Bartsch / Le Peintre graveur (VII.147.136) Dodgson 1903, 1911 / Catalogue of Early German and Flemish Woodcuts in the BM, 2 vols (I.307.125) (first edition) Schoch 2001-04 / Albrecht Dürer, das druckgraphische Werk. 241; S.M.S. [11] Many further printings followed after Dürer's death in 1528, including two in the 1540s, and two more in the late 16th century. Cet animal avait été offert par le roi du Portugal Manuel Ier au pape Leo X. Creator/Artist; Name: Dürer, Albrecht: Date of birth/death: 1471-05-21: 1528-04-06: Location of birth/death: Deutsch: Nürnberg. Durer was a master of the woodcut and had brought greater artistic vision and intellectual depth to the medium. "Albrecht Dürer The Rhinoceros (B. The Rhinoceros, which must have seemed like a mythical beast to those that viewed it first in Lisbon, would have been a potent symbol of that exotic, untamed, outside world to which Europe was bringing order and enlightenment. Schulfilm zu "Rhinocerus", einem Werk des Nürnberger Künstlers Albrecht Dürer aus dem Jahre 1515. [5][6] It is possible that a suit of armour was forged for the rhinoceros's fight against the elephant in Portugal, and that these features depicted by Dürer are parts of the armour. It's fair to say that this woodcut is not a fully accurate representation of an Indian rhinoceros through its depiction of the animal being covered in what looks like armor. He also assures the viewer that “This is an accurate representation”. Credit Line: Gift of Junius Spencer Morgan, 1919. [35] Later printings have six lines of descriptive text. Brought from India to the great and powerful King Emanuel of Portugal at Lisbon a live animal called a rhinoceros. The carcass of the rhinoceros was recovered near Villefranche, and its hide was returned to Lisbon, where it was stuffed. It is the mortal enemy of the elephant. [13] The only known copy of the original published poem is held by the Institución Colombina in Seville. Medium: Woodcut. Accession Number: 19.73.159. [37][38] The resulting chiaroscuro woodcut, which entirely omitted the text, was published after 1620. fr:Utilisateur:Christophe.moustier Christophe.moustier ( fr:Discussion_Utilisateur:Christophe.moustier Discuter) . [33] His image is truer to life, omitting Dürer's more fanciful additions and including the shackles and chain used to restrain the rhinoceros;[33] however, Dürer's woodcut is more powerful and eclipsed Burgkmair's in popularity. The Portuguese vessel stopped briefly at an island off Marseilles,[18] where the rhinoceros disembarked to be beheld by the King on 24 January. The rhinoceros, chained and shackled to the deck to keep it under control, was unable to swim to safety and drowned. The rhinoceros is so well-armed that the elephant cannot harm it. From David Tunick, Inc., Albrecht Dürer, The Rhinoceros (1515), Woodcut on laid paper, 8 1/2 × 11 3/4 in Albrecht Dürer, a German painter and printmaker living in Nuremberg, was captivated by the strangeness of the animal. The ruler of Gujarat, Sultan Muzafar II (1511-26) had presented it to Alfonso d'Albuquerque, the governor of Portuguese India. He made a pen and ink drawing Hear about the contest held by Manuel I of Portugal. Bois) (Bartsch's Le Peintre Graveur) 75 (A History of the World in 100 Objects) 160 (Albrecht Dürer: Complete woodcuts) C. D. 125 (Catalogue of Early German and Flemish Woodcuts in the British Museum, Vol. Jean-Baptiste Oudry painted a life-size portrait of Clara the rhinoceros in 1749, and George Stubbs painted a large portrait of a rhinoceros in London around 1790. The King was keen to curry favour with the Pope, to maintain the papal grants of exclusive possession to the new lands that his naval forces had been exploring in the Far East since Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India around Africa in 1498. Curator Susan Dackerman reveals the story behind the creation of Albrecht Dürer's famous "Rhinoceros" woodcut. Dimensions: image: 8 3/8 x 11 5/8 in. Albrecht Durer. Dürer's Rhinoceros is the name commonly given to a woodcut executed by German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer in 1515. Albuquerque passed the gift on to Dom Manuel I, the king of Portugal. [31] Dürer also draws a scaly texture over the body of the animal, including the "armour". This is an accurate representation. It is said that the rhinoceros is fast, impetuous and cunning. He places a small twisted horn on its back and gives it scaly legs and saw-like rear quarters. A duel between a rhinocerus and an elephant? Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) who achieved fame throughout Europe for the power of his images. A fine example was sold at Christie's New York in 2013 for $866,500, setting a new auction record for the artist. The original document in German has not survived, but a transcript in Italian is held in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence. Dimensions: Height: 212 millimeters (woodcut) and Width: 296 millimeters (woodcut) The work I have chosen from the Northern Renaissance is Rhinocerus (Rhinoceros) by Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was born in Germany in 1471 and in his teenage years he became an apprentice to his father. Durer never saw the rhinoceros himself. This image of a gift from a colonial governor to his king reflects a confidently expansionist Europe intent on bringing what it saw as its own superior civilisation to a world outside Europe that it thought savage and ignorant. He did this until until he was 15 and started training with Michael Wolgemut. La imagen se basaba en … [14] The rhinoceros advanced slowly and deliberately towards its foe; the elephant, unaccustomed to the noisy crowd that turned out to witness the spectacle, fled the field in panic before a single blow was struck.[15][16]. 23.8 cm 29.9 cm. In early 1514, Afonso de Albuquerque, governor of Portuguese India, sent ambassadors to Sultan Muzaffar Shah II, ruler of Cambay (modern Gujarat), to seek permission to build a fort on the island of Diu. [12] A rhinoceros had not been seen in Europe since Roman times: it had become something of a mythical beast, occasionally conflated in bestiaries with the "monoceros" (unicorn), so the arrival of a living example created a sensation. . Dürer never saw the actual rhinoceros, which was the first living example seen in Europe since Roman times. Dürer's Rhinoceros is the name commonly given to a woodcut executed by German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer in 1515. Cole, F.J. (Francis Joseph), "The History of Albrecht Durer's Rhinoceros in Zoological Literature," essay in Underwood, E. Ashworth (ed. The animal was examined by scholars and the curious, and letters describing the fantastic creature were sent to correspondents throughout Europe. [32], A second woodcut was executed by Hans Burgkmair in Augsburg around the same time as Dürer's in Nuremberg. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), « Le Rhinocerus de Lisbonne », 1515, xylographie sur papier, 21,4×29,8. The image is based on a written description and brief sketch by an unknown artist of an Indian rhinoceros that had arrived in Lisbon in 1515. [35][39] There is an example in the British Museum. 1. Its arrival caused a sensation and attracted crowds of visitors for several months eager to see for themselves an exotic creature from antiquity that had been newly rediscovered. It is thought to have sold as many as 5,000 copies in Durer’s lifetime and was to become the iconic image that Europeans turned to describe the rhinoceros until well into the eighteenth century. Dürer’s Rhinoceros is a woodcut created by Albrecht Dürer in 1515 A.D. As an illustration of an animal at the center of a famous series of events, the woodcut was highly popular in the artist’s lifetime. [46] In 1790, James Bruce's travelogue Travels to discover the source of the Nile dismissed Dürer's work as "wonderfully ill-executed in all its parts" and "the origin of all the monstrous forms under which that animal has been painted, ever since". His woodcuts had made him one of the most famous and successful artists in Europe. The rhinoceros’ horn is much larger and imposing than in nature and, indeed, Durer shows the animal as having a second, smaller, spiral horn on its back. See also a French translation in the doctoral thesis of Bruno Faidutti at l', Group of History and Theory of Science – Dürer's Rhinoceros, História do famoso rhinocerus de Albrecht Dürer, "Albrecht Dürer's Rhinoceros, a drawing and woodcut", The Durer Rhinoceros - Masterpieces of the British Museum, File:Durer's Rhinoceros on Cathedral Door, Pisa C17th.jpg, "Albrecht Dürer: Masterpieces from a Private Collection", Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate, Portrait of the Artist's Mother at the Age of 63, Colossal quartzite statue of Amenhotep III, Amun in the form of a ram protecting King Taharqa, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dürer%27s_Rhinoceros&oldid=996864863, Prints and drawings in the British Museum, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Articles with Portuguese-language sources (pt), Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. [8] At that time, the rulers of different countries would occasionally send each other exotic animals to be kept in a menagerie. In particular, Oudry's painting was the inspiration for a plate in Buffon's encyclopedic Histoire naturelle, which was widely copied. By this time the block was very damaged; the border lines were chipped, there were numerous woodworm holes and a pronounced crack had developed through the rhino's legs. Title: The Rhinoceros. Albrecht Dürer The Rhinoceros woodcut with letterpress text, 1515, on laid paper, watermark Anchor in a Circle (M. 171), a good impression of this rare and important woodcut, first edition (of eight), with the crack in the block just beginning to show in the right hind leg, with the complete letterpress text above, with 3-5 mm. [30] Alternatively, Dürer's "armour" may represent the heavy folds of thick skin of an Indian rhinoceros, or, as with the other inaccuracies, may simply be misunderstandings or creative additions by Dürer. He places a small twisted horn on its back and gives it scaly legs and saw-like rear quarters. Rhinocéros dessiné par Albrecht Dürer en 1515. 2-nov-2016 - and various related Dürer's Rhinoceros is the name commonly given to a woodcut executed by German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer in 1515. [29], Dürer's woodcut is not an accurate representation of a rhinoceros. He also notes that the skin of a rhinoceros is rougher than it visually appears and that such plates and scales portray this non-visual information to a degree. It was one of the inspirations for Salvador Dalí; a reproduction of the woodcut hung in his childhood home and he used the image in several of his works. The woodcut was, per Quammen, p.204, cut on the block by a specialist craftsman known as a, Rough translation of the German original. Dürer’s depiction of the animal shaped the European image of an Indian rhinoceros right up to the mid 18th century, when another specimen arrived in Europe. © www.AlbrechtDurer.org 2019. (Bedini, p.121.) Manfred Klein. [3][4], Dürer's woodcut is not an entirely accurate representation of a rhinoceros. Dürer never saw the animal himself, but the woodcut he prepared became so famous that for two centuries it was the only rhinoceros Europeans ever saw. Dürer n’a jamais observé ce rhinocéros qui était le premier individu vivant vu en Europe depuis l’époque romaine. [43] The rhinoceros was depicted in numerous other paintings and sculptures and became a popular decoration for porcelain. He also assures the viewer that “This is an accurate representation”. The Rhinoceros is a Northern Renaissance Wood Block Print Print created by Albrecht Dürer in 1515. (He never personally saw one.) 241; S.M.S. (23.8 x 29.9 cm) Classification: Prints. [11], The block passed into the hands of the Amsterdam printer and cartographer Willem Janssen (also called Willem Blaeu amongst other names). (Bedini, p.121.). A blackletter. The excitement of Europe’s expanding horizons and ambitions as well as its increasing knowledge and understanding of the wider world and of nature. On the other hand, his depiction of the texture may represent dermatitis induced by the rhinoceros' close confinement during the four-month journey by ship from India to Portugal. King Francis I of France was returning from Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in Provence, and requested a viewing of the beast. Despite its anatomical inaccuracies, Dürer's woodcut became very popular in Europe and was copied many times in the following three centuries. The rhinoceros was already well accustomed to being kept in captivity. The German inscription on the woodcut, drawing largely from Pliny's account,[14] reads: On the first of May in the year 1513 AD [sic], the powerful King of Portugal, Manuel of Lisbon, brought such a living animal from India, called the rhinoceros. [42] A similar rhinoceros, in relief, decorates a panel in one of the bronze west doors of Pisa Cathedral. Gilles Le Corre: 1525 Durer Initials (2010). Developments in printing technology meant that his “Rhinoceros” could be reproduced in much greater quantities than previously and priced to be within the reach of the less wealthy. The rhinoceros had been given as a gift by the ruler of Cambaia to Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese … Albuquerque decided to forward the gift, known by its Gujarati name of genda, and its Indian keeper, named Ocem, to King Manuel I of Portugal. Source. In any event, there was not the popular sensation in Rome that the living beast had caused in Lisbon, although a rhinoceros was depicted in contemporary paintings in Rome by Giovanni da Udine and Raphael. History. He made his own drawing of the animal and soon produced the woodcut that proved to be one of the most commercially successful of its time. The animal had been shipped to Lisbon in 1515 as a gift to King Manuel I of Portugal by Afonso de Albequerque the governor of Portuguese India. On 20 May 1515, an Indian rhinoceros arrived in Lisbon from the Far East. [40][50], Some sources erroneously say 1513, copying a typographical error made by Dürer in one of his original drawings and perpetuated in his woodcut. [19][20], Valentim Fernandes, a Moravian merchant and printer, saw the rhinoceros in Lisbon shortly after it arrived and described it in a newsletter sent to the Nuremberg community of merchants in June 1515. Dürer may have anticipated this and deliberately chosen to create a woodcut, rather than a more refined and detailed engraving, as this was cheaper to produce and more copies could be printed. 1) 299 (Kurth's Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer) None of these features is present in a real rhinoceros. Albrecht Dürer Rhinoceros.