Young Hare
The hare also known as rabbit or young hare, is a watercolor by Albrecht Dürer and probably the most famous of all nature studies Dürer.
Description
The hare is shown on the approximately square paper in the falling leaf diagonal from top left to bottom right in a squatting position. The rabbit looks, this diagonal Following this, in the space outside the image area. This leads to the view in three-quarter profile. The head, the spoon and the chest are shown in bottom view back cover and the rear hand in supervision. Thus all the essentials of the complexity of rabbits is shown. The primer is painted in watercolors, ranging from fawn to gray brown to off-white. In this primer, the rhythmically structured hair layers are set. However, they are less ornamental than about in Dürer's self-portrait from 1500., The drawing of the hair illustrates the fur strain in the squatting position and also the soft, shiny feel of the coat.
The spoons are made drawings scarce. The brushwork is short and concise. The left image on the spoon is bent backwards and facing the viewer. Together with the also facing the viewer 's eye, he symbolizes the animal perception. In the eye of a window frame mirrors. The right spoon is - like the eye - away from the viewer. Add the invisible space in which this eye looks, falls the shadow of the hare and the long fibrils of the eye and Äsers.
It is shown without a seat or surroundings. Nevertheless, the rabbit gives the impression that he would sit still for the moment of viewing:
Formation
The hare is shown in this picture as an attribute and probably without symbolic meaning.
It is practically ruled out that Dürer has drawn and painted a living hares. However, the often cited as an argument for the vitality in the eye of rabbits reflecting window cross is a formulaic element and is found in several plants Dürer. He had taken it out of Dutch painting.
There are further illustrations of rabbits in Dürer. These include:
- The Holy Family with three rabbits
- In the picture, the temptation a rabbit is shown, the horror turns away when Eve takes the apple.
- A pen and ink drawing in Basel shows the bottom right three hares.
History
Already in the 16th century and especially in 1600 there were a large number of repetitions and imitations. Thirteen are known today, including three free variants, which show a rabbit from the front. Hans Hoffmann copied Dürer's works, including the hares, on the other hand he walked off the picture also, by representing the bunny in the forest or in an ornamental garden. This was the genesis of animal play, a new type of picture taken.
The hare is the most prominent object in the Albertina. In the permanent exhibition, a copy can be seen. The original will be issued after agreement with the Heritage Office every five years only twice. To date, it marks the artist materials needs.
In 2002, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of its date, as well as during the Dürer exhibition in 2003 at the Albertina, the image in the public and in the media, aroused great interest.
The Madrid Prado Museum Albertina had borrowed the famous Dürer's Self-portrait from 1498 of the great Dürer exhibition in 2003 and got in 2005, as consideration the hares for the exhibition " Durero - Obras de la Maestra Albertina ". The hire was controversial because the export license is applied too late. The Hare remained for the duration of the exhibition in Madrid.
For a loan of Dürer works in 2013 at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA, the hare did not belong.
After 10 years, the original is from 14 March to 29 June 2014 in the exhibition " The establishment of the Albertina - between Dürer and Napoleon " to see. The next time will be in 2016 to see the work in a Dürer exhibition.