This copper engraving is from a remarkable series of publications, illustrating voyages of discovery and travels of exploration to various parts of the world. The project was begun by Theodore de Bry of Frankfurt, in 1590 and was to continue for another 54 years. They became known collectively as the Grands Voyages (to America and the West Indies) and the Petits Voyages (to the Orient and the East Indies). De Bry died after the first six parts of the Grands Voyages were completed. The project was completed initially by his widow and two sons, Johann Theodore de Bry and Johann Israel de Bry, then by Johann Theodore's son-in-law, Matthaus Merian, in 1624.

This dramatic engraving is Plate XVIII from Part II of de Bry's Grands Voyages, which details the French adventures in Florida between 1562-65. It depicts the chief surrounded by the widows of the men who had fallen in battle or by disease. Squatting on their heels and hiding their faces in their hands, they beg him to avenge the deaths of their husbands, to provide for them during their widowhood, and to be granted permission to remarry after their period of mourning. French explorers and Indigenous men look upon the scene from a distance. From the first German edition, published in 1591. On a sheet of German text measuring 9.2 x 12.6".

References: Church #179; Van Groesen (De Bry's America) p. 117.

Condition: A

A sharp impression with marginal soiling and a chipped corner, well away from image, that has been replaced with old paper.