This article felt so familiar to me. It read to me as if we were dipping into the subject of folk art again and that we were passing down information in whatever way we could through art. One phrase I particularly adored from this article was "Therefore on account of its Wonderfulness I thought myself to obliged to send you the representation of it." Most people who know me know I love animals but I have a special place in my heart for a few and the rhino (or ganda) is one of them. The history behind different places around the world getting information about newly discovered animals is fascinating to me and artists played a part in the international game of telephone. In the case of Durer and his woodcut, although it wasnt exactly accurate, Im glad that the work is being preserved because to create a creature with such detail with nothing but a newsletter and sketch should be something to be respected even if he romanticized it a bit.
I laughed a little when the article spoke about Durer designing armor, he couldnt have gotten a better animal to embellish with strong but beautiful designs. Although he had people who disliked the way he was depicting ganda Im glad there were people who could see where he was coming from with his design because (and I know this is almost exactly what the article says but I agree) he caught the essence of the Rhino. I dont believe that the other artists mentioned (Giovanni, Francious, and Hans) did as good of a job as Durer. The first two I just didnt like the art but I think I didnt like Han's as much because it makes me a little sad that the Rhino is in chains and Im confused as to why he chose an almost exact pose for the rhino. It couldve been that he didnt have enough information about the rhino to make it another way. However like I said Im still amazed that they were able to create anything as remotely close to the Rhino without having seen a real photo instead of what little information they got.
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