Page 516 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

EARLY EUROPEAN IMAGES OF AMERICA:

THE ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH

Jean Michel Massing

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I.n the royal palace in Brussels Diirer saw the
That Diirer was deeply interested in the
ing of "two thin wheels, one of silver... with
"jewels, shields and clothing" that had been cisco Lopez de Gomara in 1553, the latter writ- exploration of America cannot be doubted.
sent, together with six Aztecs, by Hernan the figure of the moon [on it], and the other of When he added marginal illustrations to
Cortes to Charles v in 1519. Diirer's reaction to gold... made like the sun, with many deco- Emperor Maximilian's Book of Hours, 12 he drew
the Aztec antiquities, which he saw between 27 rations and animals in relief, a very beautiful a native Brazilian on folio 41 to illustrate Psalm
August and 2 September 1520, is well known, as work. They hold these two objects in that land 24.1: "Domini est terra et plenitude eius orbis
he recorded it at length in the diary of his jour- as gods, and make them of the colour of metal terrarum et universi qui habitant in eo" (The
ney to the Netherlands: "I saw the things they resemble/' 3 earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the
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which have been brought to the King from the The identification of the two discs as sun and world, and they that dwell therein). The text
new land of gold, a sun all of gold a whole moon seems to stem from the traditional rela- of the prayer book, which was arranged accord-
fathom broad, and a moon all of silver of the tion between planets and metals found in West- ing to Maximilian's specifications, was printed
same size, also two rooms full of the armour of ern astrological and alchemical writings: the by Johannes Schonsperger in Augsburg, with
the people there, and all manner of wondrous Aztec objects, in short, were interpreted in colophon dated 13 December 1513. Of the six
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weapons of theirs, harnesses and darts, very European terms. Similarly, Bartolome de Las copies still extant, one, now divided between
strange clothing, beds and all kinds of wonder- Casas identified Aztec textiles as "cloth of Aras Munich and Besangon, has marginal drawings
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ful objects of human use, much better worth or Verdure of marvelous workmanship/' And by various German artists, including Diirer,
seeing than prodigies. These things are all so yet to Francisco Javier de Clavijero, writing who set the pattern for the decoration and com-
precious that they are valued at a hundred thou- some two centuries later, the two discs were pleted the first ten consecutive quires except
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sand florins. All the days of my life I have seen unquestionably Aztec calendars, the wheel in the very first, which was left without deco-
nothing that rejoiced my heart so much as these gold representing the image of their century, ration. These drawings were probably intended
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things, for I saw amongst them wonderful that of silver the figure of their year. Diirer and as a model for a prayer book with printed mar-
works of art, and I marvelled at the subtle In- his European contemporaries, without insight gins which, like many of Maximilian's ambi-
genia of people in foreign lands. Indeed I cannot into Aztec culture, could not grasp the symbolic tious artistic projects, was never completed. On
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express all that I thought there/' Diirer s tone meaning of the objects presented to Cortes. folio 41 the border decoration in violet ink is
and the astonishment he found so difficult to Such knowledge was to come from Fray Bernar- signed with Diirer's monogram and dated 1515.
express probably reflect a genuine admiration, dino de Sahagun that the various costumes The Brazilian Indian and the accompanying
not only for the exotic character and the mone- handed over to Cortes were those of the god birds and snail symbolize the fullness of the
tary value of the objects, but also for their Quetzalcoatl in two aspects, Tezcatlipoca and earth, while the imperial coat of arms signifies
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craftsmanship and their sheer beauty. After Tlaloc. For Diirer the "sun" and "moon" discs the emperor's temporal power over it. The fish
having been exhibited in the Casa de la Contra- may even have appeared to be hieroglyphics, seem, like the American native, to have a special
tacion in Seville and later in Valladolid, the similar to those he had sketched with pen and relevance, as the text of Psalm 24 continues on
Aztec artifacts had been brought to Brussels and ink in 1513 for Willibald Pirckheimer's transla- the next page: "quia ipse super maria fundavit
displayed there at the time of Charles v's tion of the Hieroglyphica, the original although eum: et super flumina praeparavit eum" (for he
coronation in Aachen. spurious Greek treatise purporting to be a key hath founded it upon the seas, and established it
There can be no doubt that the gifts that to the Egyptian language written by an anony- upon the floods). 14
Motecuhzoma had sent to Cortes had already mous author, Horapollo, in late antiquity. 9 Brazil was discovered on 22 April 1500 by a
aroused great attention among Europeans in Diirer's drawing representing the sun, the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Alvares
both Mexico and Spain. A list of them was moon, and a basilisk illustrates the chapter Cabral. Already on this first visit the sailors
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made before they were dispatched to Spain, and Quomodo aeuum designetur (how time is collected natural artifacts and curios. Pero Vaz
they are mentioned and described by Bernal shown); there Horapollo stated that when the de Caminha, in a letter to King Manuel i,
Diaz del Castillo, Andres de Tapia, Francisco de Egyptians intended to symbolize eternity, they reported how "The Indians traded bows for
Aquilar, and various anonymous Spaniards who drew the sun and the moon because they are sheets of paper — They brought back many
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saw them before they left Mexico. In Spain too eternal elements. The European reaction to the bows and headdresses of birds' feathers, some
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they were widely praised. Like virtually every- Aztec treasures is a typical response to objects green and some yellow." At the time of the
one who saw them, Bartolome de Las Casas, outside their original context. Even the most Portuguese landing, the Tupi-speaking tribes,
who was to become the great defender of the sympathetic viewers —and Diirer was one of which had moved from the Paraguay Basin, had
native Americans, was impressed by the golden them —could only try to accommodate them to progressively driven the Tapuya from the
and silver discs some two yards wide. Peter their own system of values. This same misun- coastal areas inland. The Tupinikin and Tupi-
Martyr dAnghiera, who viewed them in Seville, derstanding characterizes the first images of namba were bellicose peoples involved in con-
provided an interesting description as did Fran- native Americans that appear in European art. stant vendettas, taking captives and killing

THE AMERICAS 5 5
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