AMERICA

Dateca. 1650

Engraver Claes Jansz Visscher (1587 - 1652)

After work by Maerten de Vos (1532 - 1603)

After work by Adriaen Collaert (ca. 1560 - 1618)

OriginEurope, Netherlands, Amsterdam

MediumLine engraving and etching on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 15 3/4 × 20 1/4in. (40 × 51.4cm) Framed: 25 1/2 × 30 1/2in.

Credit LineGift of the Lasser Family

Object number2005-339

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "AMERICA/ Visscher Excudebat./ America well is het vreemste van de Deelen,/ Hier syn de Volcken woesten leven sonder wett./ Maer den Castiliaen quam in dit landt te teelen,/ Enheest de Havens meest met schanssen vast besett,/ Dit sach den Batavier.hy quam omt'hoeckien kycken/ En letten op syn kans, by vandt de soetichcyt./ Hy gingh allenxkens met een Stadt of Schanske strycke,/ Daer hy nu als de Moll vast in syn voordeel leyt./ Dees Landen geven uyt Goudt, Silver, Papegayen,/ En veelderhande Vee, Toeback, Brasilien Hout,/Campety Stockvis-Hout, en Ebben, all verscheyen,/ De Suycker abondanct./ D'inwoonders van dit Landt elck ander los ontsielen,/ En slackten als het Vee, op ongehoorde wys./ Als dull en onbesindt, malk anderen vernielen,/ En braden dan het Vlees tot haer gewone Spys."

The lower margin roughly translated reads: "America is by far the strangest continent;/ Here people live as lawless savages./ But the Spanish came to cultivate this land,/ And occupy the harbours with their forts./ This the Dutchman saw. He came,/ looking around the corner,/ Watching for his chance, and he found the sweetness./ One by one he ensnares a city or fort,/ Which like a barge he pulls in to his profit./ These lands give forth gold, silver, parrots,/ All kinds of cattle, tobacco, Brazilian wood,/ Campetji-stockfish wood, and ebony all appear;/ Sugar abounds, and also Hüyden fish and salt./ The inhabitants of this land take each others' lives/ And slaughter each other like cattle in an unheard of manner./ Like mindless and innocent animals,/ they destroy each other,/ Then roast the flesh as their usual fare."
Label TextAllegorical representations of Asia, Africa, and Europe were virtually unknown prior to the discovery of the Americas. The exotic nature of the New World inspired artists and artisans to create visual and figural images of the individual continents that comprised distinguishing characteristics of the land and its population. America was almost always represented as a naked or partially clothed Indian with a feathered headdress, often accompanied by a parrot and a four-legged beast, usually an armadillo or alligator.

Exhibition(s)