The Gift

The Gift was made by a group of friends. iPad drawings by Stephanie Grainger where animated by Ray Burnside. The project began during the pandemic and took over a year to complete. The initial drawings were inspired by Indian miniature paintings and sixteenth century maps. The portraits are based on contemporary paintings of the historical figures. The original score was written and played by composer Clive Whitburn and the story narrated by Stuart Organ from a script adapted from historical sources by Verity Ridgman.

Allegedly, a Rhinoceros was named Ganda by King Manuel I. (Ganda is the Tamil word for Rhino). Durer’s drawing of Ganda has a special place in history and has reappeared again and again in the work of many artists. The rhino image appears in the seal of the Medici’s in Florence, a relief sculpture of it, is cast into Pisa’s cathedral doors. Durer’s image is used as a model in 1738 painting, Les Nouvelle Indes, by Frenchman, Alexandre-François Desportes and Salvador Dali’s inspiration is expressed in a huge bronze sculpture of the rhino. Until the late 1930s, Dürer’s image appeared in school textbooks in Germany as a faithful image of the rhinoceros.