Historical Images (Engravings and Watercolors)
Sketches of Algonquin Indians roughly contemporary to Pocahontas were made by John White (1540-1593), an artist and later the governor of the Roanoke Island settlement of North Carolina. His images are now commonly used to illustrate accounts of tribes located at or near the Jamestown colony, though they are not specifically of Powhatan Indians. The images are with us today because White painted various Secotan Indian village scenes in 1585-86 during his first trip to what was then called Virginia (now North Carolina) when he served as official artist and map maker for an exploratory expedition. White's watercolors are considered the only existing contemporary visual representations of American Indians from the time of the first English colonizers.
Engravings, which could appear in the print media of the time, were soon made by Theodor De Bry and published in 1590 in A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, by Thomas Harriot (1560-1621). The De Bry engravings below, based on the John White watercolors, are taken from the Briefe and True Report. Captions with their idiosyncratic spellings. The De Bry engravings are the images that the public at large would have seen until it became possible to reproduce watercolors in print media hundreds of years later.
Theodor De Bry engravings (1590) based on John White watercolor sketches
(Scroll further down for John White watercolors)
A weroan or great Lorde of Virginia
On of the chieff Ladyes of Secota
A younge gentill woeman doughter of Secota
A cheiff Lorde of Roanoac
A chieff Ladye of Pomeiooc
The manner of makinge their boats
John White watercolors, circa 1585-1593
Secoton (1585~1593)
Ceremonial dance (1585~1593)
Indian village of Pomeiooc (1585~93)
Flash Media 3-D rendering (sorry Apple!) by Univ. of Virginia's Dr. Earl Mark
and students Kriag Schmidt and Will Sparks, from Virtual Jamestown
and students Kriag Schmidt and Will Sparks, from Virtual Jamestown
Indian in body paint (1585~86)
Indian woman and young girl (1585~86)
Theire sitting at meale
One of the wyves of Wyngyno
In an unfortunate lapse, White portrayed the woman with two right feet!
One of the wyves of Wyngyno (partial)
Campfire ceremony (1585~1593)
The manner of their fishinge (1585~1593)
The tombe of their Cherounes or cheife personages (1585~1593)
Not Powhatan or Secotan, but interesting. The watercolor below is a John White painting of a Timucuan woman possibly based on a lost Jacques Le Moyne original John White himself did not travel to Florida or encounter any Timucuan Indians. (from Sloan (2007) in Drawing with Great Needles: Ancient Tattoo Traditions of North America (2013) by Aaron Deter-Wolf, Carol Diaz-Granados).
Of Florida
Index of White Watercolors and De Bry Engravings at Virtual Jamestown
Significance of John White - Lisa L. Heuvel at Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown (dead link)
England's First View of America at The British Museum (link has changed; check John White)
The Art of John White - NCPedia, article by Suzanne Mewborn (2007)
As far as I can tell, these images are all public domain. Many of them are available at The British Museum. - collection online
March 30, 2019
Updated Nov. 28, 2024
