Jean-Frédéric Maximilien de Waldeck (c. 1766 – April 30, 1875) was a French

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

, artist and explorer. He was a man of talent and accomplishment, but his love of self-promotion and refusal to let the truth get in the way of a good story leave some aspects of his life in mystery. At various times Waldeck said that he was born in Paris, Prague, or Vienna, and at other times claimed to be a German, Austrian or British citizen. He often claimed the title of

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

and occasionally that of

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

, but these cannot be verified. Waldeck said he had traveled to southern Africa at age 19 and thereafter had begun a career in exploration. He claimed to have returned to France and studied art as a student of

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

. He said he had traveled to Egypt with

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's expedition. None of this has been independently verified; indeed most of Waldeck's autobiography before about 1820 (including his given birthdate) is undocumented and his name is absent from records of various early expeditions he claimed to have been on. Waldeck is remembered primarily for two actions. The first is publishing drawings based on the notorious set of pornographic prints titled ''

I Modi ''I Modi'' (''The Ways''), also known as ''The Sixteen Pleasures'' or under the Latin title ''De omnibus Veneris Schematibus'', is a famous Erotic art, erotic book of the Italian Renaissance that had engravings of sexual scenes. The engravings ...

''. The second is the exploration of Mexico and the publication of many examples of Maya and Aztec sculpture. Unfortunately, errors in his illustrations fostered misconceptions about Mesoamerican civilizations and contributed to Mayanism.

I Modi

The ''I Modi'' drawings are highly pornographic and accompanied sonnets by

Pietro Aretino Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satire, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his ti ...

. The original prints were published by the engraver Marcantonio Raimondi in the 16th century based on drawings by

Giulio Romano Giulio Pippi ( – 1 November 1546), known as Giulio Romano and Jules Romain ( , ; ), was an Italian Renaissance painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the ...

. The publication caused a furor in Rome, and

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII (; ; born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate o ...

ordered that all copies be destroyed. As such, there is no known original printing of ''I Modi'' in existence. What has survived is a series of fragments in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, two copies of a single print, and a woodcut copy from the 16th century. Waldeck claimed to have found a set of tracings of the ''I Modi'' prints in a convent near

Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamha ("big water" or "big waters"), was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD ...

in Mexico. His story is dubious because there is no such convent. However, we know that he saw the fragments now in the British Museum because the fragments can be matched to his drawings.

Maya illustrations

Waldeck's first contact with the art of ancient

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

was when he was hired by the publisher Henry Berthoud to prepare some plates for an 1822 book entitled ''Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City''. This book was an English translation of the 1787 report on Palenque by Antonio del Río which had been commissioned for

Charles III of Spain Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

and then sat unpublished in the

National Archives of Spain The National Archives of Spain is a national system of Archives and State Centers maintained by the Archive (''Archivo'') department of the Ministry of Culture (Spain), Spanish Ministry of Culture. Collections The National Archives of Spain con ...

. Waldeck's engravings were very different than the original drawings he worked from, and gave the monuments a decidedly

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

look, in line with his patron's views that the ancient Mesoamericans were the Lost Tribes of Israel. In 1825, he was hired as a

hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

engineer by an English mining company and went to Mexico. He did not last long at this job, and after his failure he explored the

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

ruins of the country, living in the ruined Palenque between May 1832 and July 1833. After that, in 1834, he was hired by Lord Kingsborough to travel to

Uxmal Uxmal (Yucatec Maya: ''Óoxmáal'' ) is an ancient Maya civilization, Maya city of the classical period located in present-day Mexico. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Maya culture, along with Palenque, Chichen ...

and make drawings and architectural reconstructions. Some of these were "fanciful in the extreme." In 1838, Waldeck published ''Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la province d'Yucatan pendant les années 1834 et 1836'' (Paris), a volume of illustrations of

Mérida, Yucatán Mérida (, ) is the capital of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Yucatán, and the largest city in southeastern Mexico. The city is also the seat of the Mérida Municipality, eponymous municipality. It is located slightly inland fro ...

and Maya ruins, including those at Uxmal. Dedicated to Lord Kingsborough, this book provided what Waldeck believed was further support for connections between the ancient Maya and ancient Egypt. His illustration of the Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal, for example, makes it look similar Egyptian pyramids. In 1839, he was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref> Waldeck's illustrations of Palenque were chosen to accompany ''Monuments anciens du Mexique (Palenque, et autres ruines de l'ancienne civilisation du Mexique)'' (1866) by

Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg Abbé Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg (8 September 1814 – 8 January 1874) was a noted French writer, ethnographer, historian, archaeology, archaeologist, and Catholic Church, Catholic priest. He became a specialist in Mesoamerican st ...

. However, just as his earlier illustrations had implied connections between the ancient Maya and ancient Egypt, the ones included with Brasseur de Bourbourg's text invoked the

Classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

of ancient Greece and Rome. His illustrations of panels of

Maya script Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

in the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque included clear depictions of heads of elephants (now known to be erroneous embellishments). This fueled speculation about contact between the ancient Maya and Asia and the role of the mythical lost continent of

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

as a common link between ancient civilizations of the Old and New Worlds. Waldeck published numerous

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

s of what he had come across. His last set of prints was published in 1866 when he celebrated his centennial.

Death

Waldeck is alleged to have been active until his death, at the claimed age of 109 years 45 days. He supposedly died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

while eying a beautiful woman near the ''

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

'' in Paris.Tucker, S. D. (2018). ''Quacks!: Dodgy Doctors and Foolish Fads Throughout History''.

Amberley Publishing Amberley Publishing is a firm of publishers in Stroud, England, which specialises in non-fiction transport and history books. They were established in 2008 and the chief executive is Nick Hayward, who previously worked at AudioGo and Simon & Schu ...

. pp. 54-56. Waldeck has been described by historians as a "notorious fantasist" who stated he was 120 years old. It was alleged that he prolonged his life by consuming horseradish soaked in lemon juice. His birth and death date have not been verified.

References

External links

* ttp://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=1868,0328.3**+waldeck Waldeck's erotic drawings at the British Museum*
"Brief Encounters with Jean-Frédéric Maximilien de Waldeck" at the Public Domain Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldeck, Jean-Frederic De 1760s births Year of birth uncertain 1875 deaths French men centenarians French Mesoamericanists Mayanists Mesoamerican artists 19th-century Mesoamericanists Longevity claims

I Modi

Maya illustrations

Death

References

Further reading

External links