Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe

249 Pages·2005·3.741 MB·English

by  Glynis Ridley

Clara’s Grand Tour
Clara’s Grand Tour
Travels with a Rhinoceros
in Tighteenth-Century Turope
GLYNIS RIDLEY
Atlantic Monthly Press
New York
For John
Copyright © 2004 by Glynis Ridley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may
quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to
photocopv part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to
obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to
Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.
The author and publisher would like to thank Blake Friedmann Literary Agency on
behalf of Lawrence Norfolk for permission to use a small excerpt from The Pope's
Rhinoceros copyright © Lawrence Norfolk 1996. First published in 1996 in the United
States by Harmony Books and in the United Kingdom by Sinclair Stevenson.
First published in Great Britain in hardback in 2004 by
Atlantic Books, an imprint of Grove Atlantic Ltd.
Printed in the United States of America
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ridlev, Glynis.
Clara's grand tour : travels with a rhinoceros in eighteenth-century Europe /
Glynis Ridley.
p. cm.
"First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Atlantic Books."
ISBN 0-87113-883-2
1. Indian rhinoceros — Biography. I. Title.
QL737.U63R53 2005
599.66'8'0929—dc22 2004057398
Maps designed by Jeff Edwards
Atlantic Monthly Press
an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
841 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
05 06 07 08 09 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Illustrations vii
Acknowledgements ix
Map of Clara's European and British Tour xii
Introduction xv
i. First, Catch your Rhino - and Send It to Sea i
2. Of Anatomists and Advertising - At Home 14
in Holland
3. To Entertain an Empress - Taking the Holy 43
Roman Road
4. Pretty in Porcelain - The Muse of Meissen 77
5. If Hannibal Could Do It - Rafting the Rhine 107
6. All Things to All Men - Rhinomania at Versailles 135
7. Lying Down with the Lion - Carnival in Venice 162
8. Ready Rhino - A Last Bow in London 187
Epilogue 212
Further Reading 219
v

Illustrations
I. Rhinoceros after Durer. From The History of Four-Footed
Beasts and Serpents ... Collected out of the Writings of
Conradus Gesner and other authors, by Edward Topsel.
London, 1658. Special Collections: Rare Books.
University of Louisville.
2. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp (1632). Oil on canvas by
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn. Mauritshuis, The
Hague, The Netherlands / Bridgeman Art Library.
3. Jan Wandelaar for B.S. Albinus, Tabulae sceleti et
musculorum corporis humani (1747) PL IV. By
Permission of the British Library: Shelfmark 599.0.(1)
4. Jan Wandelaar for B.S. Albinus, Tabulae sceleti et
musculorum corporis humani (1747) PL VIII. By
Permission of the British Library: Shelfmark 599.0.(1)
5. Eighteenth-century Meissen plate featuring
rhinoceros. From the Northumberland/Hanbury
service. By Permission of Alnwick Castle, the
Northumberland Estates.
Vll
6. .4 Rhinoceros. Eighteenth-century bronze. The Barber
Institute of Fine Arts, The University of Birmingham.
7. Weissenstein, view toward the castle from the Baroque
cascade (1728). Engraving by Georg-Daniel Heumann.
The Stapleton Collection.
8. Salon de la Menagerie a Versailles. Eighteenth-century
engraving by Antoine Aveline. The Stapleton
Collection.
9. Louis XV Pendule au Rhinoceros signed Noel Baltazar a
Paris © Richard Redding. Richard Redding Antiques
Ltd, Zurich.
10. Le Rhinoceros after Oudry. From Encyclopedic ou
dictionnaire raisonne des sciences des arts et des metiers par
une Societe de gens de letters; mis en ord re et public par M.
Diderot et, quant a la partie mathematique par M.
d'Alembert. Paris: Briasson, 1751-1780. Special
Collections: Rare Books. University of Louisville.
11. Venice: A Regatta on the Grand Canal (c. 1740). Oil on
canvas by Canaletto © The National Gallery, London.
12. Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice (1751). Oil painting
by Pietro Longhi © The National Gallery, London.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this book was the recipient of the
Institute for Historical Research (University of London)
Prize. I would like to record sincere thanks to Toby Mundy
and Angus MacKinnon of Atlantic Books, who both
thought Clara’s story worth telling and whose engagement
with this project has been exemplary. Thanks also to
Professor David Cannadine, Director of the Institute and
Chair of the original judging panel, and to Samantha
Jordan, who handled the emails, faxes and calls.
My understanding of the difficulties encountered by an
eighteenth-century Dutch sea captain as he toured Europe
with a rhinoceros was greatly increased by the experience
of getting close to a pair of Indian rhinoceroses at
Cincinnati Zoo. Thanks go to their keeper, Randy, who
made this possible, and to Jimmy and Chenoweth, who
provided, respectively, close-up front and rear views of
their extraordinary hides. Jimmy was especially partial to
having his nose scratched, and his curiosity and patience
allowed me an unforgettable experience. Since the time of
ix
G LYN IS RIDLEY
my visit to Cincinnati Zoo, the wonder of the eighteenth­
century viewing public at seeing a rhinoceros seems very
natural.
Many individuals have responded generously to my
queries about their own areas of expertise or the historic
collections in their care. Thanks are due to Delinda Buie of
Library Special Collections, University of Louisville,
Kentucky; Helen Chatterjee, University College London;
Professor Kathleen Coleman of Harvard University; Dee
Cook of the Society of Apothecaries, London; Yvonne
Locke and Hannah Browne of the Barber Institute,
University of Birmingham; Richard Redding of Redding
Antiques, Zurich.
Friends have shared my enthusiasm for Clara’s story. For
inspiration, patience and asking pertinent questions which
have helped determine some of the detail that follows, I
would like to thank Ginny Hartery-Barker, Steve and Jayne
Bostock, Lesley Jeffries, and Andrew Lewer. Monica Orr
found in Rosewood the perfect place in which the writing
could be completed. Jan Rizzuti took time out from her
first European vacation to quiz an unsuspecting curator
about the rhinoceros skeleton in his care. Mary Marcy truly
went the extra mile.
At various times in researching Clara's Grand Tour, I
needed help in translating source material. Two eighteenth­
century scholars gave patiently of their time and
knowledge. Andreas Muller took in his stride requests for
x