Rabbit in art
The hare or the rabbit is a common pictorial motif in the visual arts , which can have different meanings in mythology and art in different cultures. Basically, the hare is often associated with moon deities and embodies rebirth and resurrection. It is a symbol of fertility , sensual pleasure and serves as an attribute in hunting and monthly representations .
Judaism
In Judaism, the hare is considered an unclean animal because it is a ruminant, but has no claws . (3Mo 11,6: 5Mo14,7) This derogatory statement leads in the Christian art of the Middle Ages to an ambivalent interpretation of the rabbit as a symbolic animal.
Antiquity
In ancient times, because of its esteem as a hunting animal, the hare was the epitome of the hunted creature that could only survive through numerous offspring. Aristotle , Claudius Aelianus and Pliny rank him as one of the most fertile animals ever. In this way he became a symbol of vitality, sexual desire and fertility. The hare is depicted as an attribute of Aphrodite , as a gift among lovers and in late antiquity as a symbol of luck and in connection with ancient grave culture.
Christian art
Even in early Christian art, representations of hares appeared on reliefs, clay lamps and on epitaphs , without an easy interpretation.
The Physiologus , an inexhaustible source for medieval artists, reports on the hare, who in danger escapes high up on the rocks, but if he runs down the mountain he is quickly caught by the enemy because of his short front legs. Accordingly, according to the teaching of St. Basil, man should seek his salvation in the rock of Christ instead of running downhill after earthly things and into the hands of the demon. d. H. the devil to fall. The disparaging opinion of the rabbit, which according to the books of Moses is an unclean animal, is always present for the medieval artist and client. The hare in the tympanum of St. Norbert in Enkenbach stands together with other unclean animals at the Last Judgment on the left side of the lamb . That is, the rabbit can have a negative meaning, such as unbridled sexuality and lust, or a positive one as a symbol of the steep path to salvation. In the case of medieval depictions of the hare, it can therefore be deduced from the context whether a person's run into ruin or the striving for eternal salvation is meant.
The rabbit windows in Paderborn and in the Muottatal Monastery in Switzerland, in which three rabbits each have only three ears together, which together form a triangle, can be understood as a symbol for the Trinity , and probably refer to an old symbol for the run and that Go back in time. The three hares on Dürer's woodcut from 1497, The Holy Family with the three hares , in which one hare lays its paw on the other's shoulder and points to the third jumping away, could also be seen as a symbol of the Trinity .
The interpretation of the hare as a symbol of life force, rebirth and resurrection comes from antiquity. Here is the root for representations in connection with the Christian Easter festival , in which the resurrection of Christ is commemorated. The depiction of a Madonna with the baby Jesus, which is unusual in Christian iconography, playing with a white rabbit, as shown by Titian in his Parisian picture, can be interpreted here in a Christological way. Together with the basket with bread and wine, a symbol of the sacrificial death of Christ, this depiction can be read as an indication of the resurrection of Christ after death.
As a symbol of fertility, white rabbits appear on a wing of the high altar of the Freiburg Minster . They play at the feet of the two pregnant women Maria and Elisabeth . On the copper engraving by Martin Schongauer from 1470 Jesus after the Temptation , nine (three times three) rabbits are depicted at Jesus' feet as a sign of the exuberant joy of life.
Representations of hunting in a sacred context can be interpreted as the pursuit of good by evil. In the Romanesque architectural sculptures at Königslutter Cathedral , created around 1135, the hare pursued by the hunter symbolizes the human soul that wants to save itself from the devil's persecution. Another picture, “Hares Catch the Hunter”, shows the triumph of good over evil. On the other hand, when the hare is chased by an eagle, the eagle can symbolize Christ and the hare the impurity and the fear of evil before light.
The hare is also a symbol of rebirth for Joseph Beuys , in whose work the hare always finds a place. In the context of his action How to explain the pictures to the dead rabbit , he said that the rabbit
“Has a direct relationship to birth (...). For me the rabbit is the symbol for the incarnation . Because the rabbit makes real what a person can only do in his mind. He digs himself in, he digs a hollow. He incarnates in the earth, and that alone is important. "
In Christian iconography, the hare is an attribute of Saints Martin of Tours and Albert of Siena , as both have been protected from pursuit by dogs and hunters, according to legend, by hare, as well as the patron saint of Spanish hunters, Olegario of Barcelona.
Profane iconography
In modern non-sacred art, the hare appears in the same context as in antiquity: as the prey of the hunter, on monthly representations of spring or autumn, and as an attribute of Venus and a symbol for physical love.
The right to hunt was a privilege of the ruling classes from the Middle Ages to the late modern period, and this was vigorously defended. Hunting still lifes, often in company with exquisite hunting equipment, decorate rooms of baroque castles and indicate the rank and prestige of the owner. The image of Jan Weenix shows a still life in the manner of trophies collection, here of birds and small game, of precious fruits, pet dog and pet monkey, about an antique-style garden sculpture with the figure of Hercules are arranged effectively, the whole against the background of opulent palace complex. Here the wealth and luxurious lifestyle of the client or owner of the picture are demonstrated.
The moralizing subtexts of images common in Dutch art of the Golden Age were readily understood by the contemporary viewer. Fish and meat depicted in one picture can allude to religious dietary requirements, with fish referring to the fasting food and the piled up amounts of meat refer to the lust for meat, the voluptas carnis , especially when a couple is shown at the same time.
Hares and birds, perhaps still in the company of carrots and other phallic symbols, were easily understood in this sense by the contemporary observer.
In Italian Renaissance and Baroque art it is usually rabbits that are depicted and not the brown hare. In an allegory of Luxuria by Pisanello , a naked woman is lying on a bed with a rabbit at her feet. By Pinturicchio a scene derived Susanna bathing in the Borgia apartments of the Vatican. Here each of the two elderly is accompanied by a pair of hares or rabbits, clear indications of the subject of voluptuous desire.
The hare likes to appear in monthly pictures in the spring months. In Francesco del Cossa's April picture in the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara, the planet children of Venus are surrounded by a flock of white rabbits, symbols of love and fertility.
In Piero di Cosimo's picture of Venus and Mars, in addition to Cupid, a white rabbit hugs Venus.
Dürer's hare
The brown hare , a watercolor by Albrecht Dürer , which is now kept in the Albertina in Vienna, is probably one of the most famous animal portraits in European art history.
Dürer's picture can be seen in the context of his exact nature studies, as well as his almost equally famous piece of meadow or the virtuoso bird's wing, studies for which he chose the technique of watercolor or gouache . These studies are the result of Dürer's endeavors to achieve the most precise, “realistic” possible capture of nature in all of its manifestations. This picture probably has no symbolic meaning, but a unique story of reception .
At times, a reproduction of Dürer's hare was a permanent fixture in bourgeois living rooms. Repeatedly reprinted in school books, distributed in countless reproductions, as relief in copper, wood or stone, fully plastic or plaster of paris, encased in Plexiglas, painted on ostrich eggs, printed on plastic bags, alienated as "rabbit giraffe" by Martin Missfeldt , as a gag by Fluxus artists or in gold and can be acquired cheaply in galleries and at art fairs ( Ottmar Hörl ). Sigmar Polke has repeatedly dealt with the hare, painting it on paper or textiles, accommodating it in installations, Dieter Roth's “Köttelkarnikel” is a replica modeled after the Dürer hare from hare dung, and Klaus Staeck finally locks it in a narrow one Wooden suitcase from which a piece has been cut off so that the rabbit in the suitcase has a view and can breathe.
Examples
- Paula Modersohn-Becker deviates from the traditional, symbolically charged iconography with her reduction and secularization to a pet and cuddly toy in the oil painting “Girl with Rabbit” from 1905.
- The hare also had a prominent role in the holy pictures of Master Bertram (1345–1425). In his “Creation of Animals” only the hares are shown more than once. The rabbit can be found three times in the picture.
- On Martin Schongauer's copperplate engraving from 1470 "Jesus after the temptation", nine (three by three) rabbits are shown at the feet of Jesus Christ as a sign of the exuberant joy of life .
- Tina Oelker , 1000 rabbits , a thousand pictures with the motif of the field hare ( Lepus europaeus ), the free wild animal as an icon: On December 1, 2007 Tina Oelker started this project with the "day hare # 0001" and paused seven years later with the "day hare # 1000 ”to get it out of the hat again in 2020.
Middle East, Islamic Art
The hare is also a subject in Islamic art and can be found there, for example, in book illumination , on ceramics , metal objects and in wood or ivory carvings.
Hare and King Elephant, Syria 1354
Ghabi, Mameluk ceramics from Egypt, 14th century.
Wood carving, Egypt, 8th – 9th centuries Century
Metal basin, Syria, Mamluk
Tile, qadscharisch , Persia
Japan, China, Korea
Inaba's white rabbit ( 因 幡 の 白 兎 , Inaba no Shirousagi ), mentioned in the Kojiki of 712 and the Fudoki of Inaba , is mythologically mentioned .
The rabbit symbolizes the fourth sign of the zodiac in Junishi , the Sino-Japanese horoscope. When netsuke hare are therefore often used as a motif.
In Chinese, Korean and Japanese mythology or folklore, the " moon hare " or the "jade hare" often appears as a companion to the moon goddess. With a pounder or mixing spoon he stirs the "elixir of life" or the ingredients for rice cakes . The mortar symbolizes the new moon that gives birth to the crescent moon.
Ts'ui , ink drawing, Japan 1061
Shigemasa Kitao: rabbits eat wild wine, Japan around 1800
Bronze mirror from the Tang Dynasty with the moon goddess and the moon hare
See also
- German Hare Museum in Eppelheim , donated by Josef Walch , with numerous objects on the art and cultural history of the hare.
- Hare on Bell on Portland Stone Piers
literature
- Guy de Tervarent: Attributes and symbols dans l'art profane. Drou, Genève 1997, pp. 287-288, ISBN 2-600-00507-2 (French).
- Engelbert Kirschbaum (founder); Wolfgang Braunfels (Ed.): Lexicon of Christian Iconography. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1968-1976, ISBN 3-451-22568-9 .
- Sigrid and Lothar Dittrich : Hase and Rabbit , in: Lexikon der Tiersymbole. Animals as a symbol in painting of the 14th and 15th centuries . Imhof, Petersberg 2004, pp. 194-206, ISBN 3-937251-18-9 .
- Martin Müller: How to explain the pictures to the dead rabbit: Shamanism and knowledge in the work of Joseph Beuys . Publishing house and database for humanities , Alfter 1993, ISBN 3-9803234-8-X (dissertation University of Cologne 1993).
- Johann-Karl Schmidt : "Everyone is a rabbit." In: Lustgarten. Edition Cantz, Ostfildern 2002, ISBN 3-935293-31-3 .
Web links
- onlinekunst.de about the rabbit in art
- Joseph Beuys : How to explain the pictures to the dead rabbit, part 1 (15 minutes) and part 2 (13:14 minutes) film on Youtube .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ursula Treu (Ed.): Physiologus . 3. Edition. Artia, Hanau 1998, DNB 959569472 , p. 103-104 .
- ↑ Gerd Heinz-Mohr: Lexicon of symbols. Diederichs, Düsseldorf / Cologne 1971, p. 136, ISBN 3-424-00408-1 .
- ↑ quoted from: Beuys'sche Ur-hasen or how Joseph Beuys came across the rabbit ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Paul Schubring: Aid book on art history . 2012. p. 5.
- ↑ Figure, colored pen drawing
- ↑ Illustration, gouache on patterned fabric ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Figure
- ↑ Figure ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The great art lexicon by PW Hartmann
- ↑ Hare Museum in the Water Tower ( Memento of the original from November 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
