My Travels with Clara (review)

With her big ears, substantial girth, and saggy skin, she was the toast of mid-eighteenth century Europe. Clara the rhinoceros, an orphan from India, ended up in the care of Dutch sea captain Douwe Van der Meer, who rightly calculated that she would be a sensation—a lucrative sensation, at that—among the royalty and chattering class throughout the continent. Here Van der Meer himself provides the breezy narration, regaling readers with details of Clara's appetite (sixty pounds of hay daily, and a penchant for oranges and beer), transport (eight horses to pull a custom-made crate loaded on a wagon), and public acclaim (Frederick the Great brings his whole court and leaves a big tip). Text and illustrations take the form of a scrapbook of paintings, doodles, journal entries, and reproductions of souvenirs and period artwork, with arrows that direct attention to points of particular interest, such as a porcelain rhino "made in the city of Meissen," or a pile of "Clara poop" in the corner of Pietro Longhi's oil painting, The Rhinoceros. Notes on contemporary artwork and a pronunciation guide are welcome added touches. Although Holmes' title is intended as a companion book to the J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition of paintings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, who created a life-sized portrait of the fetching Clara, the quirky subject and vivid presentation will find an appreciative audience beyond museum-goers. Pair this with Mary Jo Collier's The King's Giraffe (BCCB 3/96) for a look at the eccentric enthusiasms of our fad-crazed ancestors.