“The Rhinoceros” or “Dürer’s Rhinoceros”
For today, a famous print from the Northern Renaissance that turned out to not be as anatomically accurate as first thought.
This woodcut print on paper, known as “The Rhinoceros” or “Dürer’s Rhinoceros”, was made in 1515 by the German artist, Albrecht Dürer. An artist who worked in many mediums, Dürer was also an etcher, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist in addition to a painter. He is regarded as one of the most prominent artists of the Northern Renaissance.
In 1513, an Indian rhinoceros was given as a gift to the king of Portugal, King Manuel I, from Sultan Muzafar II of Gujaratm, India. Portugal’s navy was dominating the Indian Ocean, and as such, was in control of the exotic spice trade. It was the first rhinoceros to be seen in Europe since sometime between 106 BC to 48 BC, during the Ancient Roman period. The rhinoceros was male and King Manuel I named him Genda. He was exhibited to the public in Lisbon and studied by scholars. As a result of the presence of this huge creature not seen in over a thousand years, the occasion was heavily documented in correspondences. Sadly, Genda perished on a boat that sank during a storm while traveling to Rome to be given as a gift to the Pope.
A written description and printed sketch of the animal made its way north to Germany where Albrecht Dürer saw it. He had never seen a rhinoceros but was so taken with the creature that he decided to make his own woodcut of it.
Using the text and image for reference, Dürer created this woodcut. As never having seen the creature, there are some anatomical errors. A small horn is protruding from the back of Dürer’s image, when the real rhinoceros has no such horn. It is also shown with large plates around the body and head, resembling that of medieval armor. Additionally, large scales cover the legs, which are not present on the real creature. However, overall, it is an impressive rendition.
The inscription above the rhinoceros, written in German, reads:
On 1 May 1513 was brought from India to the great and powerful king Emanuel of Portugal to Lisbon such a live animal called a rhinoceros. It is represented here in its complete form. It has the color of a speckled tortoise and it is covered and well covered with thick plates. It is like an elephant in size, but lower on its legs and almost invulnerable. It has a strong sharp horn on the front of its nose which it always begins sharpening when it is near rocks. The obstinate animal is the elephant’s deadly enemy. The elephant is very frightened of it as, when it encounters it, it runs with its head down between its front legs and gores the stomach of the elephant and throttles it, and the elephant cannot fend it off. Because the animal is so well armed, there is nothing that the elephant can do to it. It is also said that the rhinoceros is fast, lively, and cunning.
Translations by Susan Dackerman in “Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe.” exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums, 2011, pp. 167-168.
Dürer’s woodcut was a success. It was wildly popular with the general public. The woodcut medium allowed him to mass produce prints of his artwork. It is estimated that 4000-5000 copies of his rhinoceros were printed during his lifetime. Prints of the rhinoceros hung on the wall in distinguished homes across the world. The image was taken by the scientific community, most who haven’t had the opportunity to see a rhinoceros, as being an anatomically accurate representation of a rhinoceros. The print was even included in several natural history books, including Historia animalium (History of the Animals) by the Swiss naturalist, Conrad Gessner, in 1551.
This idea of the rhinoceros persisted well into the late eighteenth century, when the animal had been introduced to zoos across Europe and a female rhinoceros, Miss Clara, had made her way on a grand tour across Europe, allowing thousands of people to see a rhinoceros for themselves. Only then did Dürer’s image fade out of popularity.
Prints of “The Rhinoceros” or “Dürer’s Rhinoceros” can be visited in many institutions, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., in the United States and the Natural History Museum in London, England.
For more on Albrecht Dürer, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
