The rhinoceros
1515
Albrecht Dürer created this wildly inaccurate but incredibly famous rhino in 1515 without ever actually seeing the real animal! He based this woodcut on a written description and a rough sketch of an Indian rhino sent as a diplomatic gift to the King of Portugal. Notice the bizarre armor plates, scaly legs, and that tiny extra horn on its back? Despite these anatomical errors, this Renaissance masterpiece was so convincing that Europeans believed rhinos actually looked like this for nearly 300 years.
- Technique
- woodcut
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