b.May 21, 1471, Imperial Free City of Nernberg [Germany] d.April 6, 1528, Nernberg Albrecht Durer (May 21, 1471 ?C April 6, 1528) was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His still-famous works include the Apocalypse woodcuts, Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium. D??rer introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, have secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatise which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Renaissance in Northern Europe ever since.
Rhinoceros
1515 Pen drawing, 274 x 420 mm British Museum, London In 1515 the first rhinoceros appeared in Portugal, a gift of Sultan Muzafar of Kamboja in India to King Emanuel I. Although he had not seen the animal with his own eyes, D?rer produced a drawing and a woodcut based on the sketch and description in a letter from a Nuremberg citizen who lived in Lisbon, Valentin Ferdinand, to a merchant who was a friend of D?rer's. The woodcut was also used to make a leaflet which D?rer sold at markets. The rhinoceros is standing in the foreground of the picture, filling its entire format. The detailed depiction of his armor and skin accords with the wording in the inscription below.Artist:D?RER, Albrecht Title: Rhinoceros Painted in 1501-1550 , German - - graphics : other