durer- rhinoceros Flashcards
artist
Albrecht Dürer
date
1515
medium
, woodcut
when did this rhinocerous arrive in Lisbon
*This rhinoceros arrived in Lisbon in 1515 from the far east and was the first living example seen in Europe since Roman times.
what was durers depiction based on
*Dürer never saw the animal himself so the depiction is not drawn from his own obser-vations
*Dürer´s woodcut was based on two letters.
1.One was by the merchant Valentin Fernandez, who sent a letter with a descrip-tion of the rhino to a friend at Nuremberg. He had seen the animal himself shortly after its arrival at Lisbon.
2.A second letter from Lisbon, written by an unknown sender, arrived at around the same at Nuremberg and included also sketch of the rhino.
what is the inscription about
Dürer’s image is accompanied by a detailed inscription in the vernacular German
about its arrival in Lisbon and appearance
who sent the rhino and why
*In early 1514, Alfonso de Albuquerque, governor of Portuguese India, sent am-bassadors to Sultan Muzaffar Shah II, ruler of Cambay (modern Gujarat), to seek permission to build a fort on the island of Diu. The mission returned without an agreement, but the Sultan sent this rhinoceros as a diplomatic gift.
*At that time, rulers of different countries would occasionally send each other exot-ic animals to be kept in a menagerie.
what did Albuquerque do with the gift
*Albuquerque decided the forward the gift and its Indian keeper to King Manuel I of Portugal.
where was the rhino unloaded
After a relatively fast voyage of 120 days, the rhinoceros was finally unloaded in Portugal.
The rhinoceros was first unloaded near the site where the Manueline Belém Tower was under construction. The tower was later decorated with gargoyles shaped as rhinoceros heads 9shows the marvel in scientific discovery that it was)
*The animal was examined by scholars and the curious minded.
what did King Manuel decide to do with the rhino
*King Manuel decided to give the rhinoceros as a gift to the Medici Pope Leo X. He was keen to curry favour with the Pope and maintain the papal grants of exclu-sive possession of the new lands in the Far East.
who viewed the animal en route from portugal to rome, and what happened when the voyage was resumed
*En route from Portugal to Rome, the vessel stopped in Marseille so that King Francis I of France could view the animal.
*After resuming its voyage, the ship was wrecked in a storm, and the rhinoceros - chained and shackled - drowned. The carcass of the rhinoceros was said by some to have been recovered and its hide was returned to Lisbon where it was stuffed.
strive for realism
-not entirely accurate
-however with the resources he had, durer strived to depict the rhino in the most accurate, realistic and scientific way, in order to academically document this scientific discovery
what features does durer depict, and were they accurate
FEATURES
*Dürer depicts an animal with hard plates that cover its body like sheets of armour.
*There is a gorget at the throat, a solid-looking breastplate and rivets along the seams
*There is a small twisted horn on its back
-scaley legs
ACCURACY?
*None of the above features are present on a real rhinoceros, though the Indian rhi-noceros does have deep folds in its skin that can look like armour from a distance.
*Despite the anatomical inaccuracies, it is full of life, and one gets a sense of its irrita-ble and bellicose nature (the head is lowered)
how does durer depict its temperament
Despite the anatomical inaccuracies, it is full of life, and one gets a sense of its irrita-ble and bellicose nature (the head is lowered)
how can we see durers hallmark
*Bears the unmistakable hallmark of a Dürer image - the distinctive AD initials. He was an obsessive signer of everything he made.
effect of depicting in profile
*Depicted in profile, much like a high status portrait.
-made this scientific documentation more accurate
how do we see a sense of entrapment
*Takes up the entirety of the composition. It’s size and importance indicated by its ‘fill-ing of the frame’.
-head lowered in an irritable bellicose nature
climate of renaissance (revival of classical antiquity, age of exploration etc)
REVIVAL OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
-In the context of the Renaissance, it was a piece of classical antiquity which had been rediscovered.
AGE OF EXPLORATION
-The early 16th century was an age of discovery: Columbus had just landed in the Amer-icas, and treasures from all over the world were emerging into the European light.
-The Rhinoceros would have been received by a culture hungry for curiosity
-During this period, that which was anomalous and ‘freakish’ was celebrated. In partic-ular, artists of the Northern Renaissance found the unusual interesting and worthy of study
how was this work unusual for durer
*Taking his inspiration from a printed source rather than from first-hand observation was highly unusual for Dürer
durers strive for realism throughout his works
. He is best known for his spectacular depictions of animals and plants in meticulous, analytical detail, creating a realistic and precise image of nature and of the natural world. For example, Durer’s realistic drawing (1502) of a hare, illustrates the artist’s desire to mirror nature through patient and faithful representations.
HOW WAS THE USE OF TECHNIQUE INNOVATIVE
-Durer was the first artist to buy a printing press, and he set himself up primarily as a print maker.
*Woodcut was the first and most popular type of printing at the time.
*Very labour intensive, but worth it as you can make a lot of them. allowed this rhinocerous to become a scientific source, as This is one of the early mass-produced images in Europe.
process of woodblock printing
1.Dürer first designed, using ink on paper, his own interpretation of an Indian rhi-noceros. This became his master template.
2.Working from his initial drawing, Durer would have drawn directly onto a block of fruit wood.
3.The design was then cut, leaving the areas to be printed standing up in relief.
4.The block would then be inked and put through the press (the process could then be repeated almost endlessly)
5.The finished print would appear on the paper as the mirror image of the design on the woodblock.
6.Probable that the whole process - from initial drawing to finished woodcut print - would have taken the artist about 10 days.
benefits of using woodblock
*Evidence of great finesse in this particular woodcut: the amount of detail, shading, the cross-hatching.
-could create many copies
*His Lisbon rhinoceros sold in thousands! Some 4000-5000 copies were probably print-ed in Dürer’s lifetime, with many more over the following three centuries.
how many were sold in durers life
*His Lisbon rhinoceros sold in thousands! Some 4000-5000 copies were probably print-ed in Dürer’s lifetime, with many more over the following three centuries.
afterlife of this print
*Regarded by Westerners as a true representation of a rhinoceros into the late 18th cen-tury, this was the standard visual representation of the exotic animal for almost 200 years
*Eventually it was supplanted by more realistic drawings and paintings.
*Long after more accurate depictions of a rhinoceros appeared in Europe, Dürer’s fan-tastical design continued to hold a fierce grip on how the animal was perceived. In
kenneth clark critical quote
“probably no animal picture has exerted such a profound influence on the arts”
(Kenneth Clark).
