A few of his images, such as his Christ-like self-portrait of 1500 and the Praying Hands went way beyond such visual quotations and took on an iconic status. His woodcut of The Rhinoceros, one of the great images of European art, also falls into this category. His wide-ranging taste is documented in his drawing of another unusual animal, Head of a Walrus, and is also recorded in his Netherlands diary. Unlike elephants, which were known in small herds in 15th and 16th century Europe, no rhinoceros had been seen alive in Europe since the third century AD. The large size and aggressive appearance of this specimen, which D? recorded in long inscriptions on both the print and its preparatory drawing, must have added to its instant newsworthiness.Hans Burgkmair, D?’s contemporary who worked for the Emperor Maximilian in Augsburg, also designed a woodcut of the so-called “Lisbon” rhinoceros in 1515, which has survived in a unique impression in Vienna. In stance and proportions, the creature is similar to D?’s woodcut, but its front legs are tethered and it has a much milder demeanour.

The detail is less stylized and its skin does not bear the resemblance to embossed armour-plating that is the hallmark of D?’s animal. Ultimately it was the strength of D?’s design that ensured that it was remembered by posterity.. People have cried in public over some pretty odd things, but one of the oddest must be Blind Date. When Miss Cilla Black burst into tears on Saturday night while announcing her retirement from the long-running show, there could have been no neater demonstration of the truth that the world may be prepared to laugh with you, but weep, and you weep alone.

One looked at the spectacle with fascination, but without the slightest temptation to join in or to agree that, yes, this was truly sad. TV host leaves show; show continues; host weeps in public, live Your response, at best, was “hmm, interesting”. Your response, at best, was “hmm, interesting”.
Though Cilla Black was forever doing common things and mean, at least she resembled Charles I in one crucial way: nothing in her professional life became her like the leaving of it It was a ceremonial departure of delirious vulgarity. First, she went in secret to a psychic, who said as soon as she came in: “Bobby” (her late husband) “says you are doing the right thing.” Brilliant psychic powers; or perhaps the psychic just read The Sun. Anyway, Miss Black didn’t tell anyone she was leaving in advance, but simply announced it on a special live edition to – we are asked to believe – the stunned disbelief of the production team, before promptly going all weepy. Triff.For years, Blind Date has been an obsession of the intelligentsia, who, though notoriously indifferent to documentaries on Dostoevsky, adore total candy-floss TV. By now, with the viewing figures down to just over a third of the show’s highpoint of 17 million, they probably make up most of the audience.

Long and vicious arguments may be had at Islington dinner parties over such burning issues as whether there really are three holidays to choose from, whether the duller pickees have their answers scripted for them and whether couples have actually had sex on their dates.Me, I love it, and the idiotically predictable rhythms of the show The picker is a complete slapper, of either sex. The pickees always include one slightly frumpy person doing his or her best (who gets ditched), one complete embarrassment who the audience roots for (a loud fat girl or a boy wearing plastic breasts), and one sexy beast. Off they go, either to the National Tram Museum at Crich or to Barbados. The outcome is generally the same; in each other’s company, they have nothing at all to say (“Look at that fish”). When discussing the other, they open up to, often, a very enjoyable extent. “He didn’t know how to treat a lady,” the girl will wail, and, in our house at least, we retort: “I hadn’t noticed the question had arisen.”Very watchable, and massively enhanced by the tantalising persona of the host.