The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 26, 2024

The Rhinoceros

The Rhinoceros

1515
(German, 1471–1528)
Image: 23.8 x 30.1 cm (9 3/8 x 11 7/8 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Meder 273
Location: not on view

Description

In May 1515, the first rhinoceros since antiquity to reach Europe alive arrived in Lisbon, Portugal. The ruler of Gujarat, Sultan Muzafar II, presented the exotic beast to the governor of Portuguese India, Alfonso d’Albuquerque, who then sent it to King Manuel I. Later that year, the king sent the animal as a political gift to Pope Leo X. Sadly, the ship sank on its way to Italy, and the rhinoceros drowned. Dürer and his contemporaries were fascinated with discoveries of the natural world, and as the rhinoceros made its journey, reports of the animal spread across Europe. Although he never saw the rhinoceros himself, Dürer based his woodcut of the animal on a description and a sketch that was sent to Nuremberg. The Latin text at the top of the print describes the rhinoceros to be the color of a speckled tortoise, covered in thick plates, and so well armed that even an elephant could not fend it off.
  • Princes of Liechtenstein
  • Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 114): December 30, 2013 - June 23, 2014.
    Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
  • {{cite web|title=The Rhinoceros|url=false|author=Albrecht Dürer|year=1515|access-date=26 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.9