1673 Engraving of an Indigenous Archer and Figures in Feathered Cloaks
DESCRIPTION
An engraved scene of an Indigenous archer and figures in feathered cloaks appears in this excerpted leaf from the America's Discoverers section of the 1673 German edition of Arnoldus Montanus's account of the Americas.
On a wooded plain where long-horned animals graze beneath palms, an archer, bare but for a loincloth and with a quiver at his hip, draws a bow hung with feathers. To the left stand two figures in cloaks of layered feathers, one with a striped headcloth and strings of beads. At right, a group in feathered headdresses and striped garments points and gestures toward the archer. The figures appear to illustrate the text below, which a margin note labels "the dress of the Mexicans." It describes commoners who go almost naked before their lords, covered only at the loins and armed with bows and arrows, while the nobles wear strings of pearls, costly caps hung with two bands, and multicolored cotton robes reaching to the calf. The same column mentions the lawyer sent from Spain to knight Cortés in the Order of Santiago, then opens the account of Diego Gutiérrez's 1540 voyage as governor of New Cartago. The reverse follows Gutiérrez inland. He threatened to roast the chief Camachire alive unless he filled a chest with gold six times over, and another captive told him he could not understand how the earth could bear such Christians.
Arnoldus Montanus (ca. 1625–1683), a Dutch minister and schoolmaster, compiled De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld from earlier chronicles and travel accounts without ever crossing the Atlantic. The Amsterdam publisher Jacob van Meurs issued it in 1671 with a wealth of engravings. John Ogilby's English adaptation followed the same year, and Die Unbekante Neue Welt, the German edition attributed to Olfert Dapper, followed in 1673. Its illustrations were drawn by artists who had mostly never seen the Americas either. They mix reported detail with European invention, and they shaped how a generation of European readers pictured the New World.
CONDITION
1200 W. 35th Street #425 Chicago, IL 60609 | P: (312) 496 - 3622