This watercolour, painted in 1502, is still held up more than 500 years later as one of the finest examples of close observational rendering in Western art. Look closely at how the fur is built: countless small, varied, directional marks, layered to follow the actual growth direction of the hare's coat, with [[Reflected Light|reflected light]] catching in the ear and along the back.

What to actually look for

Notice how the [[Value Scale|value range]] runs from near-white highlights to genuinely dark shadow beneath the belly and around the eye
Notice that the fur isn't drawn hair by hair everywhere — Dürer simplifies in the shadow areas and gets specific only where the eye is meant to land
The whiskers are placed as a handful of confident, single lines, not dozens of fussy ones

You don't need to be able to paint like this as a beginner. The point of studying it now is simply to start noticing these choices, so you recognise them later in your own work.