Feldhase

A dull wet day when I found nothing much to interest me while walking the spaniel so here instead is Feldhase (Young Hare) by Albrecht Durer which has always inspired me. This is a half size print that we rescued (slightly water damaged) from Mrs L's grandfather's house in the Lake District about ten years ago. It is now displayed on one of our bedroom walls. I was first introduced to this painting (and to The Great Piece of Turf) almost fifty years ago by Mr Cox my art teacher at school. It is an extraordinary work of observation. I even liked the way Durer placed his "AD" motif under the date (1502) such that it could be read as his signature and as Anno Domini. As a schoolboy I spent hours pretentiously arranging my own initials in a similar motif. Such was my obsession with the image that when Mrs L and I went on InterRail around Europe in the early 1980s I insisted on taking the train all the way to Vienna to see it when it made one of its rare public appearances. Viewed close up and full size the detail is astonishing, the gleam in the hare's eye even reveals a reflection of the artist's studio. I think I'd like to go and see it again.