(Nuremberg1471-1528)
The Rhinoceros, 1515, woodcut, monogrammed and dated AD 1515, on laid paper with watermark "Large One-Headed Eagle" (M. Wz 224), 21,5 x 30 cm, with tiny margins along framing lines, Bartsch 136, Meder 273, 8th edition, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
anonymous collectors mark “coat of arms” (Lugt 5464); Private collection, Austria.

Very excellent, bright impression of the eigth edition with rich contrasts. With the crack through the four legs and the trunk and with tiny wormholes, with the watermark „Large One-Heade-Eagle“ which Meder mentions for the 6th edition (M. Wz 224). With fine margins along he partly broken framing lines. Browned and somewhat stained, several monor repaired tears at the margins; otherwise in an excellent condition.

In 1515 a Portuguese ship coming from Goa, India, arrived in the harbour of Lisbon, carrying an Indian rhinoceros on board. The exotic animal was once a gift of Sultan Muzafar of Gujarat to Francis of Albuquerque, who was then governor of the crown of Portugal, who in turn presented it to King Manuel I. in Lisbon. News about the arrival of the rhinoverios, a species that was known in post-ancient Europe only through Roman sources quickly spread throughout the continent. The news agent Valentin Ferdinand, who came from Moravia, and was a book printer in Lisbon sent a detailed description of the event to Nuremberg merchants in Germany. Ferdinand may have included a reproduction of the rhinoceros in the letter which together with the written description may have been the model for the woodcut by Dürer. Although Dürer’s woodcut emerged from his imagination and not from an observation in nature, it determined the appearance of the animal as far away as to the American colonies and was part of standard illustrations in natural history treatises and inspired the fine and applied arts until the mid-18th century (vgl. Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer, Das druckgraphische Werk, München 2002, Vol. II, p. 424).