Showing posts with label King Manuel I of Portugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label King Manuel I of Portugal. Show all posts

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Travel of a Rhinocero, 16th Century

Rhinoceros, click for larger image
Dürer, Rhinoceron, 1515

When the Portuguese ship "Nossa Senhora da Ajuda" sailed from India for Lisbon in Jan 1515, it included a unusual gift from Sultan Muzafar II to King Manuel I of Portugalan Indian Rhinocero.

That rhinocero, first seen in Europe, arrived in Lisbon later that year on 20 May (5 months of travel) and created great scientific and public interest. King Manuel eventually decided to give the rhinocero to Pope Leo X and it set sail for Rome in Dec 1515, I'm afraid that was a moved year for the poor animal.
 
During this second travel to Rome the ship capsized in a storm and the rhino died. The carcass was recovered, stuffed, and exhibited at the Vatican in 1516.

Although few saw the animal in person the news spread across Europe. Albrecht Dürer, in Nuremburg, received a sketch and a description from Valentin Ferdinand and from this he created several ink sketches and his famous woodcut.


Rhinoceros, click for larger image
Parsons, plate I, 1743. From ref. 3
Rhinoceros, click for larger image
Galle, Rhinoceros, 1586.
Rhinoceros, click for larger image
Kandel, in Cosmographia, 1598. Wikipedia
Clara, click for larger image
Pietro Longhi, Exhibition of a rhinoceros at Venice, 1751. Wikipedia
Rhinoceros, click for larger image
Nice one :: Photo by Phillippe Halsman titled "Dali and Rhinoceros, 1956"