Topic Three: Rhinoceros - Research Assignment #1

Topic Three: Rhinoceros - Research Assignment #1

Question 4 Answer:

Of the two, I have to say I prefer Dürer's depiction. Not to say I dislike Burgkmair's, but Dürer's is an altogether much more visually interesting piece. Even though it is far from perfectly accurate, the overall armor-like look of its body and features is really captivating, along with all its decorations and markings. It makes me want to keep looking it over, feeling like I've missed details that I don't want to. Even its head and neck seem to reference a knight's helmet and breastplate. It makes me want to keep looking it over, feeling like I've missed details that I don't want to. The amount of detail and rendering he managed to get from the woodcut is also quite impressionable to me.

Question 7 Answer: 

Definitely the one by Giovanni Giacomo Penni (which sounds a bit mean, but I don't mean it that way). It's a charming little drawing in its own right, but compared to the other prints, it isn't exactly what I would call impressive. It appears to be done so quickly (though being a wood cut, it obviously was not), and looks, for lack of a better term, something a child might draw when described what a rhinoceros looks like. The most amusing trait to me is that, the front legs look very oddly placed. I cannot tell where the shoulder begins, or where the chest ends, unless it has been drawn so inward that it cannot be seen (which is in itself an awkward choice).