the squirrels are busy now

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:US, PD: 100)

Here's Hans Hoffmann in 1578 with a squirrel tame enough to sit and munch a food while Hoffmann draws him oh, so carefully.  Hoffmann is probably best known for his copies of Albrecht Durer's work (Durer died in 1528; Hoffmann's dates are circa 1530-91).  You can see why; same hyperreal attention to detail, same cold light, even same way of writing letters and dates.  I think for me the difference is in the overall feeling.  Durer's work, beautiful and masterful as it is, almost always has a strong clinical feeling about it (an exception being that self-portrait where he looks like Jesus).  Hoffmann is softer.  This squirrel has a soft eye and is drawn as an appealing and harmless creature; Durer's creatures always look awash in mistrust and feral energy.