Rhinoceros resting on its side

Copyright

Work in the public domain
Image: Courtauld
by-nc

Maker

(artist)
1698-1767

Title

Rhinoceros resting on its side

Date of Production

(?) 1748

Medium

graphite with some stumping on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 26.3 cm
Width: 42.7 cm

Object Number

D.1952.RW.2164

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

Not currently on display
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Keywords

Label Text

The wrinkled-skinned rhinoceros seen here resting contentedly on its side makes an interesting comparison with Francis Barlow's stiff, armour-plated creature inspired by Durer. The Indian rhinoceros had rarely been seen in Europe before 1748 when the German animal painter and etcher Johann Elias Ridinger saw this particular animal in Augsburg. A print made after his drawing of a standing rhinoceros consequently played a significant role in expelling the myth of Durer's 'unnatural' creature.

Notes

A live rhinoceros was in Augsburg from May to June 1748, and Ridinger made six sketches of it.

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: centre: “I VILLEDARY”.

Inscription: Verso: lower right corner, graphite, circled: “D 1005”.

Collector's mark: Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Provenance

E. Parsons & Sons (London), cat. no. 44 (between1921-1927), lot 71; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b; Witt Bequest 1952 Parsons didn’t print the publication year on their catalogues so we have to rely on annotations/anecdotal evidence. We know that their catalogue 38 was for a sale in 1921, and we think catalogue 46 was around 1927, so catalogue 44 should be between those dates. The BM has a drawing that came from cat. no. 45, which resold drawings Parsons had purchased from a sale in April 1926 and so must date after that. The V&A has a copy of Parsons catalogue no. 51 which they estimate is dated 1934, which supports the timeline assumed above.

Exhibition History

German Old Masters, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1969-70 (Dec.-Mar.)
Miss Clara, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 30/09/2022-15/01/2023
Miss Clara and the Celebrity Beast in Art 1500-1860, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, 17/11/2021-27/02/2022
...More
Beauté animale, Grand Palais, Paris, 19/03/2012-16/07/2012
Oudry's Painted Menagerie, J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 01/05/2007-02/09/2007; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 07/10/2007-06/01/2008; Staatliches Museum Schwerin, 04/04/2008-06/07/2008
Captured on Paper, Animals in the Prints and Drawings Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/06/2002-11/08/2002
Old Masters from the Witt Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 01/01/1943-01/05/1943
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Literature

Miss Clara and the Celebrity Beast in Art 1500-1860, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, 12 Nov. 2021 - 27 Feb. 2022
cat. no. 8a
pp. 16, 66-67, 102
no. 8a on p. 67
Beauté animale, Grand Palais, Paris, 2012
cat. no. 88
fig. 139
Oudry's Painted Menagerie, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Staatliches Museum Schwerin, 2007 - 2008
p. 98
fig. 8 on p. 99
...More
Clarke, T.H., 'Two rhinoceros drawings re-attributed' in 'Burlington Magazine', October 1994 - pp. 625-29; 126, 979
p. 626
fig. 32
Gijs van der Ham, Clara the Rhinoceros, Rijks Museum: Amsterdam, 2022.
pp.129-152
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