Theodore De Bry and John White - Essay Example

Analysis of two historic paintings John White was an artist that formed part of the expedition that sailed to America alongside Richard Greville, a venture organized by Sir Walter Raleigh. White was an artist that used his talent to draw maps and trails of their expedition across the American terrain in 1595. The artist made numerous watercolor sketches depicting the landscape that they were in and also captured the way of living of the Algonkin people residing in Roanoke Island (Trinkle 294). The pieces that he created were vital as they helped in informing how the Native American society operated especially alone the Eastern seaboard. The astounding and original watercolor pieces created by White can be found at the print room within the British Museum. The paintings aroused the interest of many Europeans as they were anxious to learn how the ‘new world’ looked like as documented by White. Shortly after John White’s paintings went public, Theodore De Bry emerged and began to make the same illustrations by engraving them. De Bry was goldsmith and engraver from Belgium who sough to display White’s watercolor paintings in a new light. As much as the engravings appeared to depict the images of the Natives Americans, they were not the actual interpretation and true depiction of these people during the sixteenth century. Based on this, the engravings by De Bry altered John White’s paintings and should not be relied on when attempting to understand the people of present-day North Carolina in the sixteenth century. In many of De Bry’s engravings, the facial structure of most of the characters were altered where they ended up looking more like Europeans rather than Native Americans. For instance, in the Indian Woman and Young Girl painting, there is a striking difference between White’s and De Bry’s art works. The girl in De Bry’s engraving is far from the woman and seems to be holding something in the air, which is not similar to White’s painting. The girl also appears to be older in De Bry’s engraving as compared to the girl in White’s painting, which is an obvious difference. Audiences might view this as a subtle change that is not quite noticeable, but it was a significant change that distinguished the engravings from the White’s original paintings. Another element that De Bry applied to the engravings was color in which he was successful at distorting the original images through the introduction of a pale color pigment. De Bry also distorted the vegetation by coloring them in his engravings, which was quite contrary to what the actual surroundings were during that time. He also gave blonde hair to some of the people in his engravings, which was quite different from the hair color that White had used on his paintings. The important aspect that De Bry failed to capture in his engravings was the difference between Europeans and Native Americans, which was a distinctive feature that should have come out clearly as White intended. De Bry also illustrated his failure to acknowledge, appreciate, and understand the Native American culture as the images he created were more European than reflective of the former culture. De Bry also chose to view the new world and its inhabitants from a European perspective, which illustrated the hidden desire to do away with culture of the indigenous people are replace them with the European culture. Clearly, the engravings by De Bry altered John White’s paintings and should not be relied on when attempting to understand the people of present-day North Carolina in the sixteenth century. When comparing White and De Bry, White was more of a naturalist and anthropologist painter as compared to De Bry who applied realism and sought to capture the landscapes in a modern way (Cohen 23). In essence, the paintings by White complement the information captured in many texts reviewing the New World. He managed to capture religious rituals, agriculture, architecture, and the village life of the people of Roanoke in their true form, which is supported by existing literature. On the other hand, De Bry’s engravings featured the Native Americans as the central subjects on the foreground, which was different from White’s depiction. For instance, in the Indian Village of Pomeiooc image De Bry was quite keen on bringing out the landscape while White made no effort to bring out this element in his painting. In the same engraving, De Bry’s depiction appears to be that of the houses being permanent structures as compared to White’s illustration that is seen as temporary. A striking difference that exists between White’s painting on the Indian Woman of Secoton is that he only shows the front side of the woman while De Bry captures both the front and the back of the woman hence providing more details about the woman. Much detail in the image by De Bry was on the surrounding areas to the central objects, which were the houses belonging to the Indians. The situation is also similar in the Old Indian Man where De Bry concentrates his efforts on the ground that the character on the image is standing on as it its stands out more than the man. was on White’s watercolors mainly focused on the birds, the Native Americans and sea creatures to depict the way of life of the Roanoke people. From this, the engravings by De Bry altered John White’s paintings and should not be relied on when attempting to understand the people of present-day North Carolina in the sixteenth century. Many critics intimate that the Native Americans in De Bry’s engravings were conceived and presented in landscapes that were more appealing to the Europeans. The depiction by De Bry of the flora and fauna of Roanoke was on how the land must have appeared to the Europeans from a civilized outloook and not the actual landscape (Gaudio 16). White on the hand, was part of the renaissance culture that put man and his landscape as subjects of importance. The culture also views man as the measure for all things within a painting contrary to romantic paintings where the landscape becomes the central focus. De Bry appears to have reversed the Renaissance culture in his engravings where the human figures appear as tiny beings suggesting their diminished place in nature. The engravings by De Bry illustrate that the Europeans were not after exploring the culture of the Native Americans and appreciating the same, but they were only interested in the landscape sand the ways in which they could serve their interests. From the evidence provided above, Based on this, the engravings by De Bry altered John White’s paintings and should not be relied on when attempting to understand the people of present-day North Carolina in the sixteenth century. Work cited Cohen, Simona. Animals As Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art. Leiden: Brill, 2008. Print. Gaudio, Michael. Engraving the Savage: The New World and Techniques of Civilization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008. Print. Trinkle, Dennis A. The History Highway: A 21st Century Guide to Internet Resources. Armonk, N.Y [u.a.: M.E. Sharpe, 2006. Print. Read More