T.H. Clarke’s “The Rhinoceros” concentrates the life, death
and influence of the first ganda to arrive alive in Europe since the third
century, which was sensational, and on Albrecht Durer’s 1515 woodcut rhinoceros.
The rhino inspiring Durer’s print was given to the King of Portugal by an
Indian sultan. The world's spice trade was under Portugal’s navy’s jurisdiction
at the time because of its dominance over the Indian Ocean. Seeking approval
for his Eastern Empire, the Portuguese king sent the rhino as a gift to the
pope. However, the ship carrying the rhino sank in a storm and unfortunately
for the rhino, it drowned.
Having only the description sent by a Moravian printer and a
sketch from Lisbon, Durer drafted an iconic representation of the animal during
a time when many people had not seen one, in which the image of the Rhino
became admired throughout Europe. Durer’s active engagement in designing armour
is what gives the woodcut its outstanding feature, the rhino’s skin. Drawing
from what he knew allowed him to take those influences and incorporate them
into his carvings. The new technology of woodcut printing allowed drawings to
be mass produced which in turn influenced other artists interest in depicting
the exotic animal and how small details are lost or added in newer depictions
like a giant game of telephone leaving room for speculation and exaggeration.
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