We have Grumpy Cat (RIP) and Boo the Pomeranian, 18th-century Europeans had Clara the Rhinoceros, the biggest animal celebrity of the 1700s! This sweet female Indian rhinoceros took Europe by storm and gave rise to a veritable cultural obsession in the mid-1700s. In this episode, I explore Clara's superstar qualities and the fantastic artworks she inspired in the age of “Claramania."
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Image Credit
Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Rhinoceros, 1749 / bps Bildagentur / Staatliches Museum, Schwerin / Art Resource, NY - modified
VOC logo / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Tin-glazed earthenware tile panels with the VOC Ship, 1625-1650, the Netherlands / Rijksmuseum / Public Domain - modified
Albrecht Dürer, The Rhinoceros, 1515 / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain
Theodor Matham after Lowijs Elzevier (III) en Daniel, Title page of Indiae Utriusque, 1658 / Rijksmuseum / Public Domain
Johann Reinhold Forster, Map of Cape of Good Hope, 1797 / Special Collections and College Archives, Musselman Library, Gettysburg College / Public Domain
Gobelins Royal Manufactory, Le cheval rayé from Les Anciennes Indes series / J. Paul Getty Museum / Public Domain
Johann Elias Ridinger, Eve Presents Adam with the Apple, c. 1750 / Wellcome Collection / CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommon...
Herman Moll, A New and Correct Map of the Whole World, Shewing Ye Situation of Its Principal Parts …, 1736 / New York Public Library / Public Domain - modified
Porcelain plate decorated with a Dutch East India Company ship, Jingdezhen, China, 1756 / Victoria and Albert Museum / photo by Andreas Praefcke / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain - modified
Alessandro Longhi, after Pietro Longhi, The Rhinoceros, Clara, in the foreground, Her Keeper Holding Her Horn and a Whip behind Her at Center with Various Other Spectators in Carnival Masks, after around 1751 / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Vue du Salon du Louvre en l’année 1753, etching, 1753 / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain
Plates XXXVII and VIII in volume 11 of Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du roy, engravings by Jean-Charles Baquoy after Jacques de Sève / Internet Archive
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C. Baron after François Herbert Drouais, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon, 1761 / Wellcome Collection / CC BY 4.0
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Jan Wandelaar, An écorché figure, front view, with left arm extended, showing the bones and the fourth order of muscles, with a grazing rhinoceros in the background, 1742 or 1747 / Wellcome Collection / CC BY 4.0
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Jan Wandelaar, An écorché figure, back view, with left arm extended, showing the bones and the fourth order of muscles, with a rhinoceros seen in the background, 1742 or 1747 / Wellcome Collection / CC BY 4.0
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Snuffbox, view 1, Louis Roucel, 1768-69, France / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain
Snuffbox, view 2, Louis Roucel, 1768-69, France / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain - modified
Snuffbox, view 3, Louis Roucel, 1768-69, France / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain - modified
Lacquer Box with Design of a Plum Tree and Pine, 18th century, Japan / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain - modified
Turk on a Rhinoceros, around 1755-60, Ludwigsurg Porcelain Manufactory, Germany / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain
Porcelain brush pot, Ming dynasty, China, mid-17th century / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain
Daniel Marot, plate from Nouveaux livre de cheminées à la hollandaise, 1712 / RISD Museum / Public Domain
Paul Decker the Elder, The First Wall of the Porcelain Room from Fürstlicher Baumeister Oder: Architectura Civilis, 1711 / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain - modified
Plates 1 and 3 of “Porcelaine” plates from tome 4, Recueil de planches de l’Encyclopédie par ordre de matières, 1785 / Hathi Trust / Public Domain, Google digitized - modified
Attributed to Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, musical rhinoceros table clock, France, around 1748 / © Sotheby’s - used with permission
Sound Effects
“Meh 04” by Larakaa at Freesound.org / CC BY 3.0
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“Pferdestall.wav” by Andune at Freesound.org / CC BY 3.0
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“Music box loop 20.wav” by klankbeeld at Freesound.org / CC BY 3.0
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Music
“Happiest Camper on Earth” by Stationary Sign from Epidemic Sound
“Happier These Days” by Claude Signet from Epidemic Sound
“Happy to Be Here” by Spectacles Wallet and Watch from Epidemic Sound
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