Topic Three: Rhinoceros - Part One

Research Assignment #1:

'The first Lisbon or Dürer rhinoceros of 1515' responses. 

Albrecht Dürer's woodcut (1515)

Hans Burgkmair's woodcut (1515)

Between Albrecht Dürer’s and Hans Burgkmair’s woodcuts, I prefer Dürer’s. I appreciate the imaginative elements it contains and the great amount of detail Dürer included. Dürer used a large amount of his imagination and personal armor experiences, instead of observation in his depiction. This made me relate it more to a dinosaur than a rhinoceros, with armor on its back and face. At the time, this  was most likely not very useful in helping the public understand and see a real life depiction of this new found creature, but in these present times I enjoy it more than Burgkmair’s depiction. The amount of detail seen in this woodcut really amazes me as I can see how much time was put into the woodcut and how much thought and planning went into it and the fact that it was all based off of a German newsletter and his own imagination. 

François Leguat (1708)

The depiction I found the most amusing in this passage was the one by François Leguat, titled Voyage et avantures of 1708. This illustration is found in a book which tells stories of French voyagers that sailed from England to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The voyagers observe a creature they had never seen before, known as a rhinoceros. From the descriptions, Leguat was able to illustrate a group of rhinoceros which seemed to have patterns and harness-like objects on their skin and backs. This was the most amusing depiction to me as it contained very unrealistic, fantastical and fictional elements in the illustration. I appreciate the way this artist created a variety of rhinoceros and the way which no two rhinoceros were the same, due to the different patterns, details, sizes and textures they individually had.