During a time in which the image of the Rhino became popular throughout Europe, Albrecht Durer managed to produce the most iconic depiction of the animal "due as much to chance as to genius". By viewing a rough sketch and reading a small description of the animal, Durer combined previous knowledge that he had with the new information to illustrate his famous rhinoceros. I appreciate the fact that Durer incorporated his knowledge from armor design to illustrate the rhino's own "armor". Even with Durer's slight imaginative exaggerations to the rhino, those that know what a rhino looks like still find Durer's depiction to be fairly accurate and worthy to be recorded into books.
One part that I found interesting in the reading is when Clarke mentions that a friend of Durer's, Hans Burgkmair, also produced a similar looking woodcut print of the rhinoceros. It's odd that scholars couldn't figure out if the two pieces are related in any way. One thing is for certain, Durer's more stylized and ingenious representation of the rhino became long lasting and iconic while Burgkmair's print faded into the background. The other variations of depictions seem to follow Durer's scaffolding of the Rhino's figure. I enjoy how new depictions of the rhinoceros became more and more stylized according to each artist's method of work and the messages they are trying to convey.
Both articles point to the role of an artist's imagination and vision in making convincing work, and the life of the work itself as a disseminator of fact and fiction through history.
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