Skip to Content
Today Open today 10–11 members | 11–5 public

The Rhinoceros

A work made of woodcut in black on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of woodcut in black on ivory laid paper.

Date:

1515

Artist:

Albrecht Dürer
German, 1471-1528

About this artwork

Albrecht Dürer never saw a rhinoceros in real life. Although the letterpress text atop this broadsheet suggests otherwise, he in fact copied the woodcut from a drawing and a description given by an eyewitness before the ship carrying this gift for the king of Portugal sank on the way from India. Nonetheless, despite the lack of direct observation, the resulting image was immensely popular and formed many people’s ideas of the animal’s appearance. As with religious images from this period, the replication of print gave this woodcut its own type of truth.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Albrecht Dürer

Title

The Rhinoceros

Place

Germany (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1515

Medium

Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 21.5 × 30 cm (8 1/2 × 11 13/16 in.); Sheet: 24.8 × 30.5 cm (9 13/16 × 12 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Potter Palmer

Reference Number

1939.247

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/30283/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share