Fun! But an extremely important picture historically. As G. Casanova observed "The savants of our time [ie 1700s] assured us there could not be so much water in the world as to have brought the Deluge [remember Noah's ark]; they [the savants] also assured there could not be such a thing as a rhinocerus." But here in Venice 1751 was a live rhinocerus. Hence this picture. The commissoner wanted a permanent record that such a creature trully did exist and they had seen it exhibited. So much for the 'experts'... Also, the rhino here has a sweet expression; just quietly eating hay and being itself, but probably quite aware of how significant is his prescence in Venice at this moment.
3 comments:
Love the mask!
When in Venice...
Fun! But an extremely important picture historically. As G. Casanova observed "The savants of our time [ie 1700s] assured us there could not be so much water in the world as to have brought the Deluge [remember Noah's ark]; they [the savants] also assured there could not be such a thing as a rhinocerus." But here in Venice 1751 was a live rhinocerus. Hence this picture. The commissoner wanted a permanent record that such a creature trully did exist and they had seen it exhibited. So much for the 'experts'...
Also, the rhino here has a sweet expression; just quietly eating hay and being itself, but probably quite aware of how significant is his prescence in Venice at this moment.
Post a Comment