The Rhinoceros by Albrecht Dürer (Interpretation and Analysis)

The Rhinoceros
Source: The MET

Today, I want to talk about one of my favorite artists, Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was a remarkable artist for many reasons; he was among the first to capitalize on selling art directly to ordinary people—thanks to the invention of printing, Dürer’s famous woodcuts and engravings could be reproduced and sold fairly easily—and was also one of the first artists to consistently sign his work. His iconic AD signature can be seen as the modern day equivalent of a trademark, used as a form of branding and to also differentiate his work from copy-cat artists.

Like many artists of the Northern Renaissance, Dürer was interested in portraying the world around him in a naturalistic and accurate way. His work reveals that the artist meticulously studied the human body, as well as animals and even plants. In fact, Dürer even published a book about human proportions. Which is why it is ironic that Dürer’s most famous woodcut, The Rhinoceros, was not the result of study, but rather the product of the artist's imagination. Like virtually all other contemporary Europeans, Dürer never saw a rhino in the flesh. Instead, he drew inspiration from written descriptions of the animal.

Modern viewers often find The Rhinoceros to be whimsical, but it’s important to remember that, because Dürer's rhino was so popular, his woodcut became the definitive image of a rhino for centuries in Europe. Obviously, I’m not an expert on the historical impact or significance of The Rhinoceros, but I do think it offers an interesting example of the power of art.

When studying the story of The Rhinoceros, one question presents itself: does art reflect life or is it the other way around? A piece of art is always a rhetorical statement, a text that contains significance in much the same way that written language does. The ideas conveyed by art inform the thoughts and beliefs of viewers and potentially change the way that they understand the world. Thus, art can shape and change the world around it in subtle and powerful ways.

Over time, the way each piece of art impacts the world will shift. No matter the artist’s intentions, each generation of viewers will approach the piece from their own perspective, allowing it to take on a life of its own. For example, when viewed from a modern perspective, The Rhinoceros can be seen as part of the long-standing Western tendency to exoticize the other, a trend that has had profound impacts on the modern world.

Yet, in other ways, art necessarily mimics pre-existing human thoughts and ideas. No artist exists in a creative vacuum, thus their work is informed by the norms and paradigms of their society.

The Rhinoceros is a good example of this phenomenon. Contemporary European viewers understood it to be a faithful representation of a real animal, thus shifting their understanding of life in other parts of the world. However, at the same time, it reflects a shift that had already begun in European thought. Medieval artists were seldom interested in depicting their world with any degree of visual accuracy. This is largely because they valued the symbolic importance of art over other considerations.

Although Dürer’s rhinoceros doesn’t really look like the real animal, it was clearly rendered with great care and attention to detail. The fact that Dürer set out to portray the rhinoceros as it really appeared speaks to a massive paradigm shift. As Renaissance thought took hold, Western thinkers began to privilege an understanding of the physical world and its mechanics, as opposed to the theological scholarship that dominated Medieval thought. This paradigm shift changed the Western world forever and helped to establish the ideas about science that we have today. Dürer was a part of this movement, and his rhinoceros should be examined within this context.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.