Albrecht Dürer’s Rhinoceros

In 1515, a rhinoceros named Genda made its appearance at the court of the Portuguese king Manuel I, also known as Manuel the Fortunate, in Lisbon. Genda was a unique diplomatic gift sent by the ruler of an Indian princely state. This rhinoceros embarked on a lengthy journey across two oceans, and nearly half a year later, it stood before the Portuguese public, leaving a profound impression on them.

The tradition of presenting rulers with rare animals was typical of that time. Genda was not the only exotic creature aboard the Portuguese fleet that arrived that year from distant India. However, it was the rhinoceroses that captivated the imagination of Europeans then, the stories about them rivaling the fantastical legends of dragons. Although Genda was not the first of her kind to set foot on the European continent, it is believed that rhinoceroses had last been seen here during the Roman Empire, when they were frequent guests in menageries and gladiatorial arenas.

Interestingly, the Portuguese ruler, familiar with the works of Roman authors, apparently sought to recreate one of these ancient contests at his own court. Evidence has survived, even to this day, that Manuel organized a staged fight between Genda and an elephant from his menagerie. However, the experiment failed: the elephant was frightened by the noise of the crowd and fled the battlefield.

It's no wonder that the triumphant ‘second coming’ of rhinoceroses to Europe quickly became a topic of widespread discussion. Rumors about the Portuguese monarch’s new pet spread to various countries, and the curious flocked to his court in Lisbon. However, most people learned about Genda through various descriptions that circulated across Europe. One Florentine traveler even dedicated a poem to the rhinoceros, accompanied by a simple illustration.

Today, many know of Genda thanks to an entirely different representation: an engraving by the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). Interestingly, Dürer himself never saw the rhinoceros. His ‘portrait’ resulted from the third-party accounts of Genda he encountered, such as drawings and letters from eyewitnesses. Despite not seeing the animal, Dürer's work turned out to be incredibly lifelike, and the anatomical inaccuracies he introduced aren't immediately apparent to the casual observer. For instance, Dürer depicted Genda with an extra horn on her back and scales on her legs and body, as if she were covered in some kind of armor.

Nevertheless, over time, Dürer's Rhinoceros gained nearly as much popularity as its real-life counterpart. For centuries, multiple copies of the artist’s engraving were produced, some of which have survived to this day. Ultimately, the engraving became so widely recognized that it formed the foundation of European perceptions of rhinoceroses and even appeared in textbooks and scientific publications. This continued until the eighteenth century CE, when the number of rhinoceroses in Europe increased, and people were able to witness the inaccuracies made by the German author firsthand.

Unfortunately, though, Genda’s fate soon took a tragic turn. After thoroughly enjoying his new plaything, Manuel I decided to gift the rhinoceros to Pope Leo X of the Roman Catholic Church. A year prior, the pontiff had been delighted by a white elephant named Hanno, sent to him by the Portuguese ruler. Thus, for the second time in a few months, Genda became part of a diplomatic ceremony. Adorned with a collar encrusted with precious gemstones, the rhinoceros was loaded onto a ship along with other valuable offerings and set sail for Rome. However, the rhinoceros never reached her destination: the vessel suffered a shipwreck, and the animal perished. Accounts of the subsequent fate of the rhinoceros's body vary. Some say it was washed ashore and devoured, while others suggest its skin reached the Eternal City or was sent back to Portugal. Nevertheless, the memory of Genda endured largely due to the famous engraving by Albrecht Dürer.