The Traveling Illustrations of Sixteenth-Century Travel Narratives

The illustrations created by Jörg Breu for the 1515 edition of Ludovico de Varthema's account of his voyage to the Middle East, India, and the East Indies (Die ritterlich uñ lobwirdig Rayss 'The Noble and Praiseworthy Journey') were reprinted in other travel narratives published in th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PMLA : Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 2014-05, Vol.129 (3), p.365-398
Main Authors: VOIGT, LISA, BRANCAFORTE, ELIO
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
16th century
Audiences
Breu, Jorg (the Elder)
Engraving
Ethnography
Geography
Illustration
Illustrations
Narratives
Printing
Renaissance literature
Staden, Hans
Travel
Varthema, Lodovico de
Woodcuts
Written narratives
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Summary:The illustrations created by Jörg Breu for the 1515 edition of Ludovico de Varthema's account of his voyage to the Middle East, India, and the East Indies (Die ritterlich uñ lobwirdig Rayss 'The Noble and Praiseworthy Journey') were reprinted in other travel narratives published in the mid–sixteenth century, including Hans Staden's Warhaftige Historia 'True History' (1557), about his captivity among the Tupinambá Indians of Brazil. As recycled illustrations their presence in Staden's text is usually ignored or derided, but their iconography and placement suggest that they were chosen deliberately and not merely for the sake of economy and expedience. By analyzing the images' relation to the accompanying text and comparing the images with those used in other editions and other travel narratives, the article argues that these traveling illustrations do not merely demonstrate the interchangeability of exotic "others" but rather suggest a growing awareness of and interest in ethnographic specificity among mid-sixteenth-century European readers.
ISSN:0030-8129
1938-1530
DOI:10.1632/pmla.2014.129.3.365