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Rhinoceros is an incredible woodcut made by Albrecht Durer. He created a woodcut picture that was reproduced several thousand times of the animal, which demonstrated a significant interest of the European people in Asia. His work was considered a masterpiece of that time that served informative and aesthetic purposes. The story of the picture can be used to describe the relationships between Europe, India, and the Islamic world.
It is crucial to start with several facts from the biography of Albrecht Durer. He was a famous and well-known artist that made special artworks. It was found that Durer had never seen the beast himself and that created his work based on a drawing and written samples sent from Lisbon (Monson 51). Durer was an extremely influential Italian, and he knew many other influential people of the time, including Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Bellini. Even though Durer had never seen a live rhino and depicted it inaccurately, Durer’s Rhinoceros became one of the most popular pictures of the time.
The picture of the rhino created in 1515 was inaccurate. The picture shows that a rhino is covered with plates of armor. Indeed, the audience can observe the shift in its meaning from an exact source of zoological information to a pictorial source of aesthetic pleasure throughout the construction of the history of the Rhinoceros (Feiman 22). Durer’s Rhinoceros also has a small horn on the back, scaly legs, and saw-like rear quarters. These features are not present in a rhino. The fact that Durer was interested in the animal and many people bought woodcut pictures of the rhino show how interested the public was in the gift from the East.
The rhinoceros depicted by Durer had a fascinating history. It was first sent as a gift numerous times and always was the special art that every receiver would admire (Feiman 22). For example, it was sent to King Manual of Portugal, where it became extremely popular. King Manual even started a fight between an elephant and the rhino to see who would be the winner. It became one of the most precious possessions of the king. However, King Manual still sent the animal as a gift to Pope Leo X in 1515. This demonstrates how the Islamic world wanted to build relationships with Europe, how India lived during the time of the Islamic invasion, and how European kings wanted to receive Pope’s favor and attention.
The rhinoceros was not the only time an animal was used as a diplomatic gift. For instance, it was a gift between various noblemen across India and the Islamic world. This is because the animal depicted was made realistically as opposed to other similar works of that time (Moson 51). The animals were often sent to maintain diplomatic relationships with the western world, knowing the increased interest in exotic animals.
In conclusion, Durer’s Rhinoceros demonstrates the interest of sixteenth-century Europeans in animals from the East. Even though Durer had not seen the rhino, he created a woodcut print of the animal, knowing that it would get popular. The story of the rhinoceros’ travels demonstrates the diplomatic interests of India, the Islamic world, and Europe, as the animal was first gifted by Indians to an Islamic king, then to a European king, and then to the Pope.
Work Cited
Feiman, Jesse. “The Matrix and the Meaning in Dürer’s Rhinoceros.” Art in Print, vol. 2, no. 4, 2012, pp. 22-26.
Moson, Jim. “The Source for the Rhinoceros.” Print Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1. 2004. pp. 50-53
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