John White and Thomas Harriot as well as many other Europeans traveled to the New World to learn more about that distant land. White documented his trip with quite precise watercolors of native people. These watercolors became a basis for Theodore De Bry’s engravings which were included in Harriot’s book on the voyage.
Notably, De Bry did not take part in the voyage, so he relied on White’s watercolors while working on his engravings. However, De Bry was not very precise. More so, he ignored some of White’s observations. Interestingly, De Bry added a lot of details while ignoring many meaningful observations.
Admittedly, De Bry evaluated White’s watercolors from the perspective of the European. Therefore, he might have altered the images to make them more logical and understandable for Europeans.
When comparing White’s watercolors and De Bry’s engravings, it is important to remember that the latter had never been in the New World. He relied completely on other people’s opinions.
Of course, those people shared the same ideas concerning culture, traditions as they were brought up in approximately the same cultural environment. It is also important to remember that De Bry’s task was to illustrate the book, not to copy some images.
Naturally, he might have wanted to make the images more ‘familiar’ to Europeans. Therefore, he transformed the images in accordance with his own beliefs and assumptions.
It is possible to trace one similar trait in De Bry’s engravings. White depicted only the most meaningful objects, whereas De Bry provided certain background for the objects.
This transformation can be explained logically, as De Bry might have wanted to make European readers acquainted with the nature as well as the culture of the New World. Sometimes images created by White were transformed considerably.
For instance, White’s watercolor “Indian Village of Secoton” underwent certain changes. De Bry’s engraving entitled “The Tovvne of Secota” was more ‘detailed’.
In the first place, De Bry added several figures. Of course, this did not change the concept. However, it is necessary to point out that the added figures were quite illustrative. De Bry depicted several people hunting. Apparently, he wanted to make Europeans acquainted with typical activities of natives.
Notably, De Bry added such details as cultivated areas. There were quite many ‘empty spaces’ in White’s watercolor. However, Europeans got used to using all areas available for farming.
Perhaps, this was the main reason why De Bry decided to ‘add’ several cultivated areas. Apart from cultivated areas, he added several houses. In this way he made the village of natives look like an average town or village of Europeans with numerous houses and streets.
One more engraving is really illustrative. De Bry’s work entitled “Their Sitting at Meate” is based on White’s watercolor “Indian Man and Woman Eating”. In White’s drawing, the two people were sitting in front of a big plate covered with something like beans. However, De Bry added a vessel, fish and maize.
Basically, De Bry added typical food of natives. On one hand, he might have wanted to make Europeans acquainted with typical food of people living in the New World. On the other hand, he might have assumed that natives could not have eaten only beans, as Europeans would cook several products for their meal. Perhaps, this was the reason why De Bry added some drink and some other products.
Apart from the food, De Bry was not precise in regard to the figures’ posture. In De Bry’s engraving, the two people were sitting in more European-like manner (the two people extended their legs). It is also necessary to add that De Bry’s figures are drawn in accordance with major conventions of Renaissance.
De Bry’s natives look like characters in European paintings. White was more precise, whereas De Bry might have wanted to make his illustrations similar to any other books’ illustrations of that time. He followed certain conventions of European art rather than depicted natives as they appeared in White’s watercolors.
De Bry was likely to transform the images of people to make them more beautiful, to make them more like characters in the book.
On balance, while working on his engravings, De Bry relied on White’s watercolors. However, De Bry did not simply copy White’s images. He transformed White’s images in accordance with his own assumptions, beliefs and artistic preferences.
De Bry might have added certain background to every image to make Europeans feel the atmosphere of the New World. Apparently, De Bry altered images as he might have found some illogical points. Of course, De Bry was not depicting what he had seen, but he was illustrating the book so he could have followed some artistic conventions which existed at that time.
He could have ignored White’s watercolors to make the engravings more suitable for Europeans who were overwhelmed with certain stereotypes. Therefore, De Bry could have been inaccurate with respect to the original. However, it is also important to remember that all artists add something of their own to any story they tell, as all people have different visions.