Album Sheet with a Bison, anonymous, after Albrecht Dürer, c. 1550 - c. 1570

pen, h 186mm × w 255mm More details

The bison’s head is slightly too large, its horns twist too far back, and its tail does not hang straight down. The artist probably did not study this animal from life. Yet bisons were not completely unknown in Europe during the 16th century. For instance, Margaret of Austria kept ‘wild cows’ in her menagerie in Leuven, and Emperor Maximilian I of Austria was presented with a gift of five bisons when he visited Nuremberg in 1501.