Clara the Rhinoceros

The Rhinoceros Clara, 1741, H. Oster, Anton August Beck, Johann Georg Schmidt, 1747.

Clara the Rhinoceros is devoted to the influence, above all in image and conceptualisation of the first detailed encounter between Europeans and an Indian rhinoceros in the mid-eighteenth century. Clara was unfamiliar, impressively large, and strange to behold – in short, she was different from any other animal. Until she arrived in the Netherlands in 1741, pretty much everything Europeans knew about the rhinoceros came from a print made in 1515. That all changed when the Dutch sea captain Douwe Mout van der Meer brought Clara to Amsterdam from India. For the next 17 years, she toured towns and cities all over Europe, attracting big crowds.

Clara became a superstar of the 18th century. Scientists studied her, and artists marvelled at her appearance. The exhibition tells the story of Clara’s life and how her presence changed our perception of the rhinoceros, from a semi-mythical beast to a real live animal. In 60 objects including paintings, drawings, medallions, sculptures, books and clocks never seen together before, the exhibition explores how new knowledge changed people’s perceptions of the rhinoceros, and how art played a big role in this process.

The exhibition is the result of a research project conducted by the museum. The exhibiiton webpage includes a link to a talk by a contemporary artist and several other resources.