Group of History and Theory of Science Dürer's Rhinoceros

    We have chosen a famous drawing by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) as icon of the Group of History and Theory of Science. Dürer's rhinoceros is a landmark in scientific iconography. Up to the 15th century, drawings and paintings of animals and other natural objects had poor detail, no perspective and conveyed a weak idea of the original. Dürer and other artists of his time were able to transform completely the representation of nature.
 

This drawing has a curious history. Dürer never saw a living rhinoceros. It was not common to find a rhinoceros in Europe at that time, but in 1515 the king Manuel I of Portugal brought from India an elephant and a rhinoceros. The new of those huge animals produced a strong impact. Both animals were sent from Lisbon to Rome, in a ship, as a gift to the pope Leo X, but the ship drowned, and the animal died. Dürer used a Portuguese draft as a basis for his own work. Notwithstanding all difficulties, he was able to produce a "real", living, tridimensional figure.

For comparison, we present here a more faithful image, published in Buffon's Histoire naturelle, in the 18th century.

    We present below two typical medieval animal drawings, taken from bestiaries. They represent a "monoceros" and two elephants. The difference between their quality and Dürer's work is evident!     The animated rhinoceros that appears in our index page (it opens and closes its mouth, did you notice that?) was specially built for this home page. It should not be copied without authorization.