What caused a lot of factual errors in the image of Indian rhinos in the period from the XVI to the XVIII century? The image, which for a long time was taken in Europe for the appearance of a rhinoceros, was first created by Albrecht Dürer, a German artist who, with his engraving called "Rhinoceros," made all of Europe see false images of these animals for several centuries in a row.
Biography
The great German artist Albrecht Durer was born on May 21, 1471 in Nuremberg, Germany. His father was a jeweler, his mother was called Barbara Holper. From the age of six, the future artist attended a Latin school. His father tried to teach him jewelry skills, but Albrecht wanted to do painting, and after 9 years, his father sent his son to study with the famous Nuremberg artist Michael Volgemut. Despite his chosen direction, Dürer also mastered the art of wood engraving. He graduated from the workshop in 1490 and went on a trip to Germany and Switzerland, during which he continued to hone his skills, he created several of his famous works. In 1494, he completed his wanderings and, upon arrival home, married Agnes Frey.
For the rest of his life, the great master traveled throughout Europe with his students, creating masterpieces, and in 1512 the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Maximilian I became his patron. The artist spends the last seven years of his life, he creates his most important works, and dies on April 6, 1528. from malaria in Nuremberg.
Creativity and science
Dürer created a huge number of works of art, such as self-portraits, prints, bookplates, stained-glass windows and drawings. His paintings were appreciated and bought throughout Europe. About 970 drawings, 457 prints and 20 bookplates have been preserved. Albrecht Durer devoted most of his life to art, but he was also a well-known theoretical scientist in the field of mathematics. However, he was inspired by the greatest falsification in the history of science, namely, the engraving of Dürer "Rhinoceros", created by him in 1515. Thanks to her fame, Indian rhinos have long been given images that are different from reality.
Durer Rhino
Let us dwell on the engraving. Durer's painting "Rhinoceros" was created by the artist, who had never seen this animal in his life, according to the description of people who witnessed the appearance of a mammal in Lisbon. He was delivered from India as a gift to King Manuel, who subsequently sent it to the Pope, but the ship sank on the way.
Since the artist never saw a rhino, the image on the engraving has differences from the real one. Durer's rhinoceros is chained in strong armor, which looks like folds of the skin of a real animal, and its sheets are seemingly fastened with rivets, on its back it wears a small curved horn, and its legs are covered with scales. Also, the entire body of the animal was covered with a pattern.
The engraving became very famous, and its images were placed as illustrations for science books. Such a rhinoceros appeared on the emblem of Alessandro de Medici, and on the column, located in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and on one of the doors of the Cathedral of Pisa. Animals became popular, and more and more of their images appeared in various works of art. Rhino Albrecht Durer until the middle of the XVII century was considered a reliable image, but then more and more animals were brought to Europe, more and more they began to appear on the works of other artists, and the image inspired by engraving was crowded out. However, until the 30s of the last century, the animal from the engraving was on the pages of German school books as a real image of a rhino.