Both Dürer and Da Vinci had a unique respect for animals, Dürer for example would draw animals as full pieces of art whereas at that time " Critics felt that the painting of animals was simply a demonstration of technical skill " and almost seen as a study exercise. it was not until 200 years later, when George Stubbs came along that the subject of animals in art was elevated in higher regard. Dürer wrote "Nature holds the beautiful, for the artist who has the insight to extract it. Thus, beauty lies even in humble, perhaps ugly things, and the ideal, which bypasses or improves on nature, may not be truly beautiful in the end." That was his passion for nature and the truth he seeked, he believed he would find in the natural world. At that time, explorers travelling around the world bring back new species, so animals could be seen as new material for an artist to use.
Da Vinci likewise had the same respect for animals, he predicted that they would have the same rights as humans in time, long before such ideas had gained widespread acceptance.He became a vegetarian which was very rare at the time and even though he dissected many humans as part of his study on human anatomy, he hardly did the same studies with animals. It is said that Da Vinci loved animals so much that he would buy caged birds simply to let them go. Probably the main difference between how both artists depict animals, it that Da Vinci is studying form and movement with the animal, almost like animation whereas Dürer's work is probably more portrait like, there is colour in many of pieces and the subject is in a more posed position
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| Having not actually seeing a Rhinoceros himself, but from someone else travelling abroad, Durer 's depiction had a second horn on top of the neck and being quite literal in terms of the tough body of the rhino, it contained panels of armour. |
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| Gazer by Albrecht Dürer |
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| The Little Owl | 1508 | by Albrecht Dürer |
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| Rearing Horse by Da Vinci |
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| Studies of crabs - Leonardo da Vinci |
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| Study Of Horses by Da Vinci |
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/leonardo-da-vinci/studies-of-crabs
http://drawsketch.about.com/od/leonardodavincidrawings/ss/leonardo-da-vinci-drawing_2.htm
http://www.codex99.com/illustration/90.html
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/albrecht-durer/garza
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/durr/hd_durr.htm
http://jwstudio.tumblr.com/post/21692055075/albrecht-durer-an-owl-1508-via-new-animals
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