File:Pocahontas By Simon Van De Passe (1616).png
It is believed that Simon van de Passe (1595-1647), the Dutch engraver, sketched her likeness in an actual sitting, then created the engraving for the Virginia Company to use in their publicity campaign. This is the closest we'll ever get to knowing what Pocahontas looked like. […] The clothes that Pocahontas is wearing in the portrait are meant to show how well integrated she was into English life in order to reassure investors that the natives could be made to adopt English ways.
— Kevin Miller, in:
Miller, Kevin (2018). Portraits. Pocahontas Lives!.
Depicted people |
creator QS:P170,Q193406 |
Date |
1616 date QS:P571,+1616-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 |
Medium |
copper engraving print on paper |
Dimensions |
height: 17.5 cm (6.8 in); width: 12 cm (4.7 in) dimensions QS:P2048,17.5U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,12U174728 |
Collection |
institution QS:P195,Q1967614 |
Accession number |
NPG.77.43 |
Place of creation |
England |
Inscriptions |
- Name of sitter recto on the frame:
MATOAKA ALS REBECCA FILIA POTENTISS: PRINC: POWHATANI IMP: VIRGINIÆ.
[Matoaka alias Rebecca filia potentissimi principi Powhatani imperatori Virginiæ] [Matoaka alias Rebecca daughter of the very mighty prince Powhatan emperor of Virginia.]
- Age of sitter recto bottom center:
Ætatis suæ 21.
[At the age of 21.]
- Date recto bottom center:
A 1616.
[Anno 1616] [In the year 1616.]
Matoaks als Rebecka daughter to the mighty Prince Powhâtan Emperour of Attanoughkomouck als virginia converted and baptized in the Christian faith, and wife to the wor.ff M:r Joh: Rolff.
- Artist's initials recto bottom left:
Si: Paß: sculp:
[Simon Passaeus sculpsit] [Image engraved by Simon van de Passe]
- Publisher recto bottom right:
Compton Holland excud.
[Compton Holland excudit] [Published by Compton Holland] |
Notes |
This 1616 portrait was probably first issued as a separate print. It is sometimes said to have been published in the original edition of two works, the collection of engraved portraits called Baziliωlogia, A Booke of Kings (1618) and Captain John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England and the Summer Isles (1624), but there is evidence that it was part of neither, though it was later manually inserted in some copies of the original editions that exist today. |
References |
- Miller, Kevin (2018). Portraits. Pocahontas Lives!.
- Ganteaume, Cécile R. (2017-04-03). Marking the 400th Anniversary of Pocahontas's Death. The National Museum of the American Indian blog.
- Levis, Howard Coppuck (1913) Baziliωlogia, A Booke of Kings: Notes on a rare series of engraved English royal portraits from William the Conqueror to James I, published under the above title in 1618, New York City: The Grolier Club, p. 104−106, 111, 158, 170
- Arber, Edward , ed. (1910) Travels and Works of Captain John Smith, President of Virginia, and Admiral of New England (1580-1631), 1, Edinburgh: John Grant, p. cxxxi
|
Source/Photographer |
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
|
Permission (Reusing this file) |
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
|
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse |