A
Young Hare
(watercolour and gouache on paper, 1502))
Graphische
Sammlung Albertina, Vienna
Animals
in Art
Albrecht
Dürer was originally taught to draw by his father.
As a goldsmith to trade, he seems to have installed his
craft's appreciation of fine detail into the young artist.
Although Dürer, a German from Nuremberg, became one
of the greatest painters of the Northern Renaissance,
he is equally famous for his body of graphic work in printmaking
and illustration.
Dürer
was one of the first artists to view animals as a subject
worthy of attention. Animals were not really considered
to be appropriate subjects for serious art until the eighteenth
century when George
Stubbs elevated the genre by the sheer quality of
his work. Critics felt that the painting of animals was
simply a demonstration of technical skill, and as such
did not aspire to the creative vision of great art. Dürer
demolishes this opinion in a series of watercolours that
have become hugely popular and frequently reproduced images.
‘A Young Hare’ is one of the best.
‘A
Young Hare’ is painted for the sheer enjoyment that
Dürer experienced in creating images and it is this
pleasure that we experience when looking at it. The life
and vitality of the creature is a testament to Dürer's
skill as an artist as it was probably drawn from a stuffed
model. This is a virtuoso piece of watercolour illustration
that demonstrates the intensity of an artist’s vision
when executed with a total control of his medium.
To
begin the work, Dürer lightly sketched the image
and underpainted it with some washes of brown watercolour.
Then he patiently built up the texture of the fur with
a variety of dark and light brushstrokes in both watercolour
and gouache (an opaque form of the medium). Gradually,
the painting is brought to completion with the addition
of a few refined details such as the whiskers and the
meticulous reflection of a window in the creature's eye.
Finally, the artist dated and signed the work with his
famous monogram - a mark of his approval.
Albrecht Dürer Facts
