Theodore De Bry and John White Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Theodore De Bry and John White - Essay Example In many of De Bry’s engravings, the facial structure of most of the characters were altered where they ended up looking more like Europeans rather than Native Americans. For instance, in the Indian Woman and Young Girl painting, there is a striking difference between White’s and De Bry’s art works. The girl in De Bry’s engraving is far from the woman and seems to be holding something in the air, which is not similar to White’s painting. The girl also appears to be older in De Bry’s engraving as compared to the girl in White’s painting, which is an obvious difference. Audiences might view this as a subtle change that is not quite noticeable, but it was a significant change that distinguished the engravings from the White’s original paintings. Another element that De Bry applied to the engravings was color in which he was successful at distorting the original images through the introduction of a pale color pigment. De Bry also dis torted the vegetation by coloring them in his engravings, which was quite contrary to what the actual surroundings were during that time. He also gave blonde hair to some of the people in his engravings, which was quite different from the hair color that White had used on his paintings. The important aspect that De Bry failed to capture in his engravings was the difference between Europeans and Native Americans, which was a distinctive feature that should have come out clearly as White intended. De Bry also illustrated his failure to acknowledge, appreciate, and understand.