Does this animal look familiar? This woodcut print, made in 1515, depicts an Indian rhinoceros. Its artist, Albrecht Dürer, probably never saw a rhino himself. He based this image on other people’s sketches and written descriptions of the creature. But he seized the moment to capitalize on a sensational event: the arrival of an Indian rhinoceros on European shores. Learn about the strange and winding journey the creature took, and the ways Dürer’s woodcut popularized its image while burnishing his reputation.

In the 16th century, Sultan Muzaffar Shah II of Cambay—now the state of Gujarat in western India—presented this rhino as a diplomatic gift to Alfonso de Albuquerque, the governor of Portuguese India. The governor then sent the creature to King Manuel I of Portugal in 1515. It was the first rhinoceros to set foot in Europe since ancient Roman times, 1,500 years earlier.

The rhino’s arrival in Lisbon was an astonishing event. People flocked to the city’s main plaza to see this extraordinary animal. A Portuguese sailor at the time described the rhinoceros in a letter as “fast, lively, and cunning.”

Dürer produced this print in Germany to capitalize on the rhino’s sensational reception in Portugal. He based his print on another artist’s sketch, and he included the sailor’s observation in the German text at the top. This woodcut print functioned as a broadsheet, almost like a poster or a newspaper ad, to announce the animal’s arrival.

King Manuel I later decided to present the rhino as a gift to Pope Leo X in Rome. Sadly, the ship transporting the rhino encountered a storm off the coast of northern Italy. The boat sank in the Mediterranean, and the animal drowned.

Dürer was one of the first “celebrity” artists in Western art history. His choice of medium helped him gain widespread recognition. He knew that creating and selling prints would enable him to reach a broad audience, further establish his reputation as an artist, and ultimately make him money. He made The Rhinoceros using a woodcut print.

Today, he is remembered as a prolific printmaker whose exceptional draftsmanship and tonal range helped elevate the medium into fine art.

His stylized, prominent initials helped viewers recognize his works. In this print, the rhino’s smaller horn points toward Dürer’s initials AD.

After Dürer died in 1528, printers continued to produce copies of his works. Some even used his original woodblocks for their prints. In 1548, Italian engraver Enea Vico made his own version of Dürer’s rhino. Vico shows the animal in reverse, and his print dropped Durer’s initials but includes his own. One of the resulting prints is in the National Gallery’s collection.

Dürer’s print circulated widely throughout Europe and came to be considered the archetypal image of a rhinoceros. For centuries, Europeans believed rhinos looked just like this!