In the history of Western art, there are many classic paintings that have been handed down to this day, such as "Mona Lisa", "Sistine Virgin", "Sunflower" and "The Girl with Pearl Earrings". However, there are also paintings that look flawed but have become unique classics, such as Dürer's Rhinoceros. What exactly is wrong with this painting? Below, Xiaobian will reveal the secret to you.
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As we all know, the art of the East and the West is very different, which is reflected in painting, which is the "freehand" of the East and the "realism" of the West. The so-called "freehand" pays attention to the painting of the allegory, rather than the authenticity of the artistic image, such as classical Chinese ink landscape painting, a few strokes can outline the grand scene; and "realism", as the name suggests, is the real depiction of artistic images, such as Western oil paintings and drawings, are representatives of realistic painting. Although Western painting emphasizes "realism", there may be flaws in the process of actual painting.
In 16th-century Germany, there was a prestigious painter Albrecht Dürer, who was born into a merchant family, received a good artistic influence from an early age, and at the age of 13 he was able to paint paintings comparable to those of the famous painters of the time, and was even known as the "German Leonardo da Vinci". Dürer grew up to devote himself to painting, and left a large number of works in his lifetime, such as "Revelation", "Adam and Eve" and "The Man's Bathroom", but the painting that made him famous was "Dürer's Rhinoceros", and it was a "wrong painting".
Experts have determined that Dürer's Rhinoceros was created in 1515, more than 500 years ago, but it is still talked about until now. In fact, Dürer's Rhinoceros is a woodblock print, that is, a mold carved on a wooden board, so the painting was later printed in more than 5,000 copies, but the woodblock print has always been in the British Museum. "Dürer's Rhinoceros" is easy to understand, it is a painting depicting rhinoceros, but this painting is full of loopholes, which caused serious misleading to many people at that time.
During the 16th century, there were no rhinos on the European continent, so Europeans never saw a real rhinoceros. After the opening of the Great Navigation Route, an Indian rhino was first transported to Portugal in Europe, which also attracted a large number of people to watch for a while, during which some people also drew sketches of Indian rhinos. Later, the King of Portugal gave the rhino to the Pope of Rome, only to have an accident on the way to Italy, causing the only rhinoceros to sink into the sea. Experts say Dürer has never seen a real rhinoceros, and it was he who saw a rhino sketch before creating Dürer's Rhinoceros, so the painting, while realistic, has at least three errors:
First: The rhino in Dürer's Rhino looks gorgeous, its hips, shoulders and abdomen are covered with beautiful armor, and the lines on the armor are either round or long, giving people a strong and powerful feeling. However, if you have seen a real rhinoceros, you will find that the armor of the rhino is not good-looking, and even has scars many times, in addition, the rhino's armor has many folds, and most of these folds are rotten microorganisms, which not only look unbeautiful, but also emit a foul smell.
Second: The four hooves of the rhinoceros in "Dürer's Rhinoceros" look very strong, and the hooves are covered with scales, which look like fish scales. In this regard, experts say that this is the second mistake Dürer made, because the real rhinoceros hooves have no scales, just a normal layer of skin, but the skin of the rhino is very thick. Some scholars believe that Dürer may have used the spots on the rhinoceros hooves as scales. However, this is a very low-level mistake, because rhinos are mammals, so it is impossible to grow scales.
Third: In "Dürer's Rhinoceros", the rhinoceros has a horn on the neck, but in fact the rhino has no horn on the neck, which has become the biggest "laughing stock" of "Dürer's Rhinoceros". Later, someone realized this mistake and named the extra horn "Dürer's Horn". In addition, the rhinoceros in "Dürer's Rhinoceros" has a beard on the jaw, while the real rhinoceros does not have it, and the rhino ear in "Dürer's Rhinoceros" is also wrong, looking like a donkey ear. In addition, there are many irrationalities, and if you are interested, you may not look for them carefully.
Although "Dürer's Rhinoceros" is full of errors and makes the viewer feel ridiculous, it is also a masterpiece that reflects Dürer's painting style. Some experts even said that if only one or two mistakes can not achieve the reputation of "Dürer's Rhinoceros", it is precisely because it is wrong in too many places, and it is wrong to the extreme that it has become a famous painting.
Resources:
"Collection of Western Painting Masters" by Phoenix Space, Publisher: Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's