Theodor de Bry
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Theodorus de Bry (1528 – 1598) was a engraver, goldsmith and editor who travelled around Europe, starting from the City of Liège (where he was born and grown up), then to Strasburg, Antwerp, London and Frankfurt, i.e. a true European of his time, a bit like Erasmus.
At his time in the 16th century, the city of Liège was the center of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, independant of neighbouring countries, i.e. Burgondy, Netherlands, Germany and France. See relevant map on that link.
Theodorus de Bry was born in 1528 in Liege, East of today's (2008) Belgium, to a family who had escaped the destruction of the City of Dinant in 1466 by the Duke of Burgondy, so-called Philip the Good and his son Charles the Bold. As a man he trained from his grand father, Thiry de Bry senior (? - 1528), and under his father Thiry de Bry junior (1495 - 1590), a family of jewelers and engravers, engraving copper plates. The art of copper plate engraving was the technology of that time required for printing images and drawings as part of books. In 1524, Thiry de Bry junior married Catherine le Blavier, daughter of Conrad le Blavier de Jemeppe. Their son Theodorus de Bry became also a jeweler, engraver and book editor and publisher and he became famous most notably for his depictions of early European expeditions to the Americas.
Around 1570, Theodorus de Bry fled religious intolerance South, to Strasbourg along the West-bank of the Rhine. In 1577, he would have moved to Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant, which was part of the Spanish Netherlands or Southern Netherlands and Low Countries of that time (16th Century), where he further developed and used his skills as a copper engraver. Between 1585 and 1588 he lived in London where he met geographer Richard Hakluyt and began to collect stories and illustrations of various European explorations, most notably from Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues.
After that in 1588, Theodorus and his family moved permanently to Frankfurt-am-Main, where he began to plan his first publications. The most famous one is known as "Les Grands Voyages, "the Great Travels", or "The Discovery of America". He also published the largely identical "India Orientalis-series", as well as many other illustrated works on a wide range of subjects. His books were published in the Latin language, which was the universal language of Europe at that time. They have also been translated in German, English and French for reaching a wider audience. He became citizen of the city of Frankfurt-am-Main.
In 1590 Theodorus de Bry and his sons published a new, illustrated edition of Thomas Harriot's Brief and True Report of the new found Land of Virginia about the first English settlements in North America (in modern-day North Carolina). His illustrations were based on the watercolor paintings of colonist John White [[1]]. The book sold well and the next year de Bry published a new one about the first French attempts to colonize Florida. It had accounts of Jean Ribault and René de Laudonnière about the attempt to found the French colony of Fort Caroline and 43 illustrations based of paintings of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, one of the few survivors of Fort Caroline. Jacques de Moyne had planned to publish his account of his expeditions but died 1587. According to de Bry's account, he had bought de Moyne's paintings from his widow in London and used them as a basis for the engravings.
Theodorus de Bry created a large number of engraved illustrations for his books. as said above, most of his books were based on first hand observations by explorers, even if De Bry himself, acting as a recorder of information, never visited the Americas. To modern eyes, many of the illustrations seem formal but detailed.
He and his son John-Theodore (1560 - 1623) made adjustments to both the texts and the illustrations of the original accounts, on the one hand in function of his own understanding of Le Moyne's paintings, and, most importantly, to please potential buyers. The Latin and German editions varied strongly, in accordance with the differences in estimated readership. Amerindians look like Mediterranean Europeans and illustrations mix different tribal customs and artefacts. In addition to day-to-day life of the American natives, Theodore de Bry even included a few depictions of cannibalism. All in all, the vast amount of these illustrations and texts influenced the European perception of the New World, Africa, and Asia.
As usual, some four hundreds of years later, the exactitude of many of the illustrations have been brought into question. Modern archaeologists and historians have noticed a number of misunderstandings, and hence of mistakes. Florida archaeologist Jerald T. Milanich has expressed doubts that Theodorus de Bry had really used le Moyne's original paintings, because, according to his sources, most of le Moyne's surviving illustrations are botanical. But perhaps that these botanical illustrations were not bought by T. de Bry. As the botanical part was left in England, separated from the other illustrations which T. de Bry took with him, when going back to his family at Frankfurt, Germany, that may contribute to explain this apparent discrepancy.
Theodorus de Bry continued to publish various volumes until his death in Frankfurt-am-Main on March 27, 1598. His sons continued the series until 1634 and expanded to European voyages into Asia. All the books total to 30 volumes. Among other works he engraved a set of twelve plates illustrating the Procession of the Knights of the Garter in 1587, and a set of thirty-four plates illustrating the Procession at the Obsequies of Sir Philip Sidney; plates for Thomas Harriot's Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (Frankfurt, 1590); the plates for the six volumes of Jean-Jacques Boissard's Romanae Urbis Topogrephia et Antiquitates (1597-1602), and a series of portraits entitled Icones Virorum Illustrium (1597-1599). De Bry had been assisted by his two sons, John-Theodore de Bry (1561-1623) and John-Israel de Bry (1565-1609) who after their father's death carried on the Collectiones and the illustration of Boissard's work, and also added to the Icones and other significant publications, like Robert Fludd's works on the microcosm and macrocosm.
His work and engravings can today be consulted at the some of the most famous museums around the world, for instance, at Liège, his birthplace, and at Brussels in Belgium. In France, they are housed at the Library of the Marine Historical Service, at the "Château de Vincennes", on the outskirt of Paris. In the USA, there are copies at the Public Library of New York, at UCLA California, and more. A simple search on the Internet may perhaps indicate that there is one not far from the corner.
Last but not least, his engravings, which were in black & white have recently been put into colors, which add a new dimension to his masterpieces [Bouyer M. & Duviols J.-P., 1992]
[edit] References
- BOUYER M. & DUVIOLS J.-P., 1992. Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde: Les grands Voyages de Théodore de Bry. Découvertes Gallimard Albums (Publ.); pp. 228. - ISBN 2-07-056509-2 - (in French)
- 1986 Exhibition "The "de Bry", Family of jewelers-engravers", at the Museum of the Walloon Life, at Liège, Belgium. http://www.prov-liege.be/culture/musee/mvw.htm
- Thomas HARRIOT. A briefe and true Report of the new found Land of Virginia. The complete 1590 edition with 28 engravings by Theodor de bry, after the drawings of John White and other illustrations. With a new introduction by Paul HUTON of the British Museum. Dover Publications, Inc. (1972); pp. 91. - ISBN 0-486-21092-8
- Michiel van Groesen, The Representations of the Overseas World in the De Bry Collection of Voyages (1590-1634) (Leiden/Boston 2008)
- Jerald T. Milanich - The Devil in the Details (Archaeology magazine May/June 2005
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Archives of the de Bry family.
[edit] Internal links
- [[2]] Engraver
- [[3]] City of Liège
- [[4]] Erasmus
- [[5]] Portrait of Theodorus de Bry
- [[6]] Prince-Bishopric of Liège (in English)
- [[7]] Prince-Bishopric of Liège (in French)
- [[8]] List of famous men and women of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège
- [[9]] Théodore de Bry (in French)
- [[10]] Histoire de la vie scientifique en Wallonie de 900 à 1800 - Wikipédia
- [[11]] Duchy of Brabant
- [[12]] Spanish/Southern Netherlands
- [[13]] Low Countries
[edit] External links
- [14] Théodore de Bry of Liège: portrait, biography, masterpieces (in French).
- [15] Les collections artistiques de l'Université de Liège
- [16] La Renaissance liègeoise et la lutte contre la réforme (in French)
- [17] Theodore de Bry and his illustrated Voyages and Travels
- [18] Contents of Grands Voyages, by Theodore de Bry. German and Latin Editions.
- [19] De Bry's Grand Voyages. Early Expeditions To The New World.
- [20] The Roanoke Colony of "Virginia" from De Bry's Grand Voyages.
- [21] De Bry Copper Plate Engravings
- [22] Index of White watercolors/De Bry Engravings
- [23] Picturing the new World: Hand-colored DeBry Engravings of 1590.
- Grand Voyages prints Birmingham Public Library (Alabama)
- Théodore de Bry, Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues and the Timucua IndiansGallica, la bibliothèque numérique (Bibliothèque nationale de France)
- Theodor de Bry´s Engravings about America
- Johan Theodor de Bry in Rijksmuseum
![[5]](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Theodor_de_Bry.png){kind=link}