Resources
Classroom Ideas
Thirteen Things
Dürer's Rhinoceros
Some ideas for the classroom related to Jack Trelawny author visits and books.
The following audio, image, and text resources can be used with Jack's historical fiction series inspired by the true stories of 13 real objects from the joint British Museum and BBC radio podcast project, A History of the World in 100 Objects. This series of adventures is called:
Thirteen Things
Thirteen Things
Dürers's Rhinoceros
(Audio Resource: 15 minutes)
(Audio Resource: 15 minutes)
A gift
In 1515, the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) made this picture of an Indian rhinoceros, an animal few Europeans had ever seen.
The rhino was a present from Sultan Muzafar II, ruler of Gujarat, to the governor of the Portuguese colony in India, who thought it best to pass on such a splendid gift to his royal master, King Manuel I of Portugal.
So the rhinoceros was put onto a sailing ship laden with spices bound for European dinner tables, and made the sea journey across the Indian Ocean, and around Africa to Portugal.
The rhinoceros landed in Portugal on 20 May 1515, to great excitement. The Portuguese king had elephants in his zoo, but nothing like this strange, horned beast.
The king wanted to see a fight between his new rhino and an elephant, but the elephant ran away!
Drawing blind
When news of this fabulous animal reached Germany, the artist Albrecht Dürer decided to draw it.
All he had to go on were a few words telling him the rhinoceros has the colour of a speckled tortoise and it is covered with thick scales', though it's possible he had a rough sketch too, from Portugal.
Using this information Dürer made his own drawing and created a woodcut: Dürer's Rhinoceros.
Woodcut printing
Dürer was the best woodcut artist in Europe at the time.
A woodcut print is made by drawing onto a smooth wood block, and then cutting into the wood so that every line of the drawing is left sticking up.
When the block is inked, and pressed down onto paper, you get a printed copy.
To get the printed image the right way round, the artist makes the drawing back to front on the wood block - an amazing skill.
Dürer did not get his rhinoceros quite right. His version has scaly legs, and armour plates. Even so, it was a good try, and for the next 300 years Dürer's picture was printed in books as the definitive 'rhinoceros'.
In 1515, the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) made this picture of an Indian rhinoceros, an animal few Europeans had ever seen.
The rhino was a present from Sultan Muzafar II, ruler of Gujarat, to the governor of the Portuguese colony in India, who thought it best to pass on such a splendid gift to his royal master, King Manuel I of Portugal.
So the rhinoceros was put onto a sailing ship laden with spices bound for European dinner tables, and made the sea journey across the Indian Ocean, and around Africa to Portugal.
The rhinoceros landed in Portugal on 20 May 1515, to great excitement. The Portuguese king had elephants in his zoo, but nothing like this strange, horned beast.
The king wanted to see a fight between his new rhino and an elephant, but the elephant ran away!
Drawing blind
When news of this fabulous animal reached Germany, the artist Albrecht Dürer decided to draw it.
All he had to go on were a few words telling him the rhinoceros has the colour of a speckled tortoise and it is covered with thick scales', though it's possible he had a rough sketch too, from Portugal.
Using this information Dürer made his own drawing and created a woodcut: Dürer's Rhinoceros.
Woodcut printing
Dürer was the best woodcut artist in Europe at the time.
A woodcut print is made by drawing onto a smooth wood block, and then cutting into the wood so that every line of the drawing is left sticking up.
When the block is inked, and pressed down onto paper, you get a printed copy.
To get the printed image the right way round, the artist makes the drawing back to front on the wood block - an amazing skill.
Dürer did not get his rhinoceros quite right. His version has scaly legs, and armour plates. Even so, it was a good try, and for the next 300 years Dürer's picture was printed in books as the definitive 'rhinoceros'.
This true story and real object inspired Jack Trelawny's adventure book
The Emperor's Rhinoceros
The Amazing Adventures of Ganda the Brave
Buy Signed Books with a Dedication to Child(ren)
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Buy on Amazon Kindle
The Emperor's Rhinoceros
The Amazing Adventures of Ganda the Brave
Buy Signed Books with a Dedication to Child(ren)
Buy Apple iBooks
Buy on Amazon Kindle
