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Albrecht Dürer and printing

Dürer's 1515 print of a rhino, a black-and-white rendering of the animal printed from a description
Image caption,
Rhinoceros print made by Albrecht Dürer in 1515

This is a type of print called a woodcut by the German artist Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was born in 1471 and died in 1528.

The print was first made in 1515.

Dürer had never actually seen a rhinoceros, he made the print after reading a description that was written by someone else.

Woodcut printmaking is the oldest form of printmaking. It is a type of .

In woodcut printmaking, a knife or another tool is used to carve or a design into a wooden block.

The design can first be drawn onto the wooden block and then carved or cut out. The design will then have ink applied to it and paper placed on the top.

The design will then be printed, in reverse, on the paper.

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Make your own animal drawing

Remember that a drawing is the first step of making a print.

Here are some ideas to help you make a drawing of an animal that you could develop into a print. Think about how you can use lines to create the details, textures and patterns found on animals' skin and fur.

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 4, A black-and-white print of a coiling snake, You could try drawing the scales of a snake
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Watch: make an engraving

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Activity

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Did you know?

An old fashioned advertisement in a Victorian style, saying "experience Africa" and featuring two rhinos
Image caption,
A Victorian-style poster advertising Africa

Dürer’s print was made to celebrate the arrival of the first-ever living rhinoceros to Europe. It was given as a gift to the King of Portugal in 1515.

Dürer's woodcut print is not an accurate representation of a rhinoceros, but it was taken by many in Europe to be exactly how a rhinoceros looked, because they hadn’t seen a real one.

In the late 18th Century, during the Victorian era, photography was invented and people started to see photographs of real rhinos.

Also, in the Victorian era people started or travel to places where they could see rhinos in real life.

This is an example of how art can be an important part of shaping how people think.

An old fashioned advertisement in a Victorian style, saying "experience Africa" and featuring two rhinos
Image caption,
A Victorian-style poster advertising Africa
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Quiz

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Play Art Gallery Rescue. game

Help Lily and Will rescue the art gallery!

Play Art Gallery Rescue
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Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

Bitesize Primary games
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More on Printmaking

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