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Theodor de Bry (also Theodorus de Bry) (152827 March 1598) was an engraver,
goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...
,
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...
and publisher, famous for his depictions of early European expeditions to the Americas. The
Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Cathol ...
forced de Bry , a
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
, to flee his native, Spanish-controlled
Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...
. He moved around Europe, starting from his birth on the city of Liège in the
Prince-Bishopric of Liège The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as its prince ...
, then to Strasbourg, Antwerp,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
, where he settled. De Bry created a large number of engraved illustrations for his books. 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.


Life

Theodorus de Bry was born in 1528 in Liège,
Prince-Bishopric of Liège The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as its prince ...
(in modern
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
), to a family which had escaped the destruction of the city of Dinant in 1466 during the Wars of Liège by the Duke of Burgundy,
Philip the Good Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belon ...
and his son
Charles the Bold Charles I (Charles Martin; german: Karl Martin; nl, Karel Maarten; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), nicknamed the Bold (German: ''der Kühne''; Dutch: ''de Stoute''; french: le Téméraire), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ...
. As a man he trained under his grandfather, Thiry de Bry the Elder (died 1528), and under his father,
Thiry de Bry Thiry de Bry (1495–1590), son of Thiry de Bry the elder and father of Theodor de Bry, was a goldsmith in 16th-century Liège. He made a number of chalices and reliquaries that were still extant in the 18th and 19th centuries. A. Siret, " Bry (Th ...
the Younger (1495–1590), who were jewellers and engravers, engraving copper plates. The art of copper plate engraving was the technology required at that time for printing images and drawings as part of books. In 1524 Thiry de Bry the Younger married Catherine le Blavier, daughter of Conrad le Blavier de Jemeppe. Their son, Theodore de Bry, also became a jeweller and engraver. Theodore de Bry became a Protestant, and in 1570 was sentenced to perpetual banishment and his goods were confiscated. He moved to Strasbourg, along the west bank of the
Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...
. In 1577, he moved to Antwerp in the
Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg ...
, which was part of the Spanish Netherlands or
Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...
and
Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
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 the geographer
Richard Hakluyt Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America'' (1582) and ''The Pri ...
and began to collect stories and illustrations of various European explorations, most notably from Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues. In 1588, Theodorus and his family moved permanently to Frankfurt-am-Main, where he became citizen and began to plan his first publications. The most famous one is known as ''Les Grands Voyages'', i.e., "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 Latin, and were also translated into German, English and French to reach a wider reading public. In 1590 Theodorus de Bry and his sons published a new, illustrated edition of
Thomas Harriot Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his co ...
's ''A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia'' about the first English settlements in North America (in modern-day
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
). His illustrations were based on the watercolor paintings of colonist John White. The book sold well, and the next year de Bry published a new one about the first French attempts to colonize Florida:
Fort Caroline Fort Caroline was an attempted French colonial settlement in Florida, located on the banks of the St. Johns River in present-day Duval County. It was established under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière on 22 June, 1564, follow ...
, founded by Jean Ribault and René de Laudonnière. It featured 43 illustrations based on 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 in 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. He and his son John-Theodore 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 markedly, in accordance with the differences in estimated readership. The verisimilitude of many of de Bry's illustrations is questionable; not least because he never crossed the Atlantic.
Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
look like Mediterranean Europeans, and illustrations mix different tribal customs and artifacts. In addition to day-to-day life of the American natives, Theodore de Bry even included a few depictions of
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
; largely thanks to the accounts of Amerigo Vespucci this was already a very common element in images showing a personification of the Americas. All in all, the vast amount of these illustrations and texts influenced the European perception of the New World, Africa, and Asia. Among other works he engraved a set of twelve plates illustrating the ''Procession of the
Knights of the Garter A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
'' in 1587, and a set of thirty-four plates illustrating the ''Procession at the Obsequies of Sir
Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
''; plates for
Thomas Harriot Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his co ...
's ''Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
'' (Frankfurt, 1590); the plates for the six volumes of Jean-Jacques Boissard's ''Romanae Urbis Topogrephia et Antiquitates'' (1597–1602); and, with Boissard, a series of 100 portraits and biographies of humanists and Protestants entitled ''Icones Virorum Illustrium'' (1597–1599). De Bry had been assisted by his two sons, Johann Theodor de Bry (1561–1623) and Johann Israel de Bry (1565–1609), who after their father's death in Frankfurt-am-Main on 27 March 1598, carried on the ''Collectiones'' (expanded to voyages in Asia, reaching 30 volumes) 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 many museums around the world, including 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 The Château de Vincennes () is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. It was largely built between 1361 and 1369, and was a preferred residence, afte ...
on the outskirt of Paris. In the US, there are copies at the Public Library of New York, at the University of California at Los Angeles, and elsewhere. In Argentina, it is possible to find copies at the Museo Maritimo de
Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's souther ...
in Tierra del Fuego and at the Navy Department of Historic Studies in Buenos Aires. In Scotland, eleven titles are listed in the catalogue of Edinburgh University Library (Special Collections).


Works

* 1590–1634 Bry (Theodore de). Collectiones peregrinatiorum in Indiam orientalem et Indiam occidentalem, XIII partibus comprehenso a Theodoro, Joan-Theodoro de Bry, et a Matheo Merian publicatae. Francofurti. 1590–1634. Fol. (Parts I to VI, edited and illustrated by T. de Bry, parts VII to IX by his sons, Johann Theodor and Johann Israel de B.; parts X to XII by J. T. de B., and part XIII by M.Merian.) * 1596 (America. Part VI.) Historiae ab A. Bezono ... scriptae, sectio tertio....in hac reperies qua natione Hispani... Peruani regni provincias occuparint, capto rege Atabaliba, etc. (3d part of G. Benzoni's Historia del Mondo Nuovo.) Map and plates, 2 parts. Frankfurt. 1596. Fol. * 1617 (Second edition). Oppenheimii. 1617. Fol. * 1595 (German edition). Frankfurt. 1595. Fol. * 1613 (Second German edition). Frankfurt. 1613. Fol. * 1599 (America. Part VII). Descriptionem trium itinerum. . .equitis F. Draken....J. Hauckens.. .G. Ralegh ... in Latinum sermonem conversaauctore G. Artus. Maps and plates. 3 pt. Francofurti. 1599. Fol. * 1625 (Second edition). Francofurti. 1625. Fol. * 1602 (America. Part IX). De novi orbis natura (by J.de Acosta). Accessit... S. de Weert and...O. a. Noort ....Plates. 5 pt. Francofurti. 1602. Fol. * 1633 (Second edition). Francofurti. 1633. Fol. * 1601 (German edition). Yon Gelegenheit der elemente natur de Neuer Welt. J. H. v. Linschoten. Frankfurt. 1601. Fol. * 1602 (Latin and German edition). Francofurti. 1602. * 1620 (Latin). Francofurti. 1634. Fol.


See also

* Black Legend, anti-Spanish propaganda


References


Further reading

* Lauren Beck, "Illustrating the Conquest in the Long Eighteenth Century: Theodore de Bry and His Legacy," in ''Book Illustration in the Long Eighteenth Century: Reconfiguring the Visual Periphery of the Text'', Ed. Christina Ionescu. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011, 501–40. * M. Bouyer & J.-P. Duviols, ''Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde: Les grands Voyages de Théodore de Bry'' (Gallimard, 1992). * Bernadette Bucher, ''Icon and Conquest: A Structural Analysis of the Illustrations of the de Bry's Great Voyages'' (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1981). (translated from the French edition, ''La Sauvage aux seins pendants''. Paris: Hermann, 1977. ) * Michiel van Groesen, ''The Representations of the Overseas World in the De Bry Collection of Voyages (1590–1634)'' (Leiden/Boston 2008) * 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 Hulton of the British Museum (Dover Publications, 1972). *
Henry Keazor Henry Keazor (born 4 March 1965) is a German art historian. He is a Professor of Art History at Heidelberg University. Career Keazor studied art history, German literature, musicology and philosophy at the Heidelberg University and at the Sorbon ...
: "Theodore De Bry's Images for America", ''Print Quarterly'' 15/2 (1998), pp. 131–149 * Henry Keazor: "'Charting the autobiographical, selfregarding subject'? Theodor De Brys Selbstbildnis", in: ''Berichten, Erzählen, Beherrschen - Wahrnehmung und Repräsentation in der frühen Kolonialgeschichte Europas'', hrsg. von Susanna Burghartz, Maike Christadler und Dorothea Nolde (= Zeitsprünge - Forschungen zur Frühen Neuzeit, Band 7, Heft 2/3), Frankfurt am Main 2003, p. 395–428 * Jerald T. Milanich, "The Devil in the Details", ''Archaeology'' magazine May/June 2005 * Archives of the de Bry family.


External links


Théodore de Bry of Liège: portrait, biography, masterpieces
(in French).



(in French)



* ttp://philaprintshop.com/debry.html De Bry's Grand Voyages Early Expeditions to the New World.
The Roanoke Colony of "Virginia" from De Bry's Grand Voyages




* [http://bplonline.cdmhost.com/cdm4/results.php?CISORESTMP=/cdm4/results.php&CISOVIEWTMP=/cdm4/item_viewer.php&CISOMODE=grid&CISOGRID=thumbnail,A,1;title,A,1;subjec,A,1;type,A,1;none,A,0;20;title,none,none,none,none&CISOBIB=title,A,1,N;creato,A,0,N;subjec,200,0,N;none,A,0,N;none,A,0,N;20;title,none,none,none,none&CISOTHUMB=20%20(4x5);title,none,none,none,none&CISOTITLE=20;title,none,none,none,none&CISOHIERA=20;creato,title,none,none,none&CISOTYPE=link&CISOOP1=all&CISOFIELD1=title&CISOBOX1=&CISOOP2=all&CISOFIELD2=publis&CISOBOX2=&CISOOP3=all&CISOFIELD3=subjec&CISOBOX3=&CISOOP4=all&CISOFIELD4=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOBOX4=engraving+flanders&c=all&CISOROOT=%2Fp4017coll6 ''Grand Voyages'' prints] Birmingham Public Library (Alabama)
Johan Theodor de Bry in Rijksmuseum

One of the largest collection of de Brys prints available to dateThe Latin version of Théodore de Bry’s Voyages on line (in its entirety)
with comments fro
Matthieu BernhardtBodmer LabUniversity of GenevaCalifornia State Library - Sutro Library catalog record of De Bry's Grand Voyages.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bry, Theodor De 1528 births 1598 deaths 16th-century engravers Renaissance engravers Artists from Liège German engravers Goldsmiths Businesspeople from Liège