Page 518 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

fig. 4. Hans Burgkmair, The Triumph of Maximilian, c. 1517-1518, woodcut. Graphische Sammlung Staatsgalerie Stuttgar detail

Diirer's and Burgkmair's approach reflects a sheets, in fact, caricatured the natives of Mexico Lopez de Gomara described the jugglers
transitional stage in the depiction of American America, stressing nudity and cannibalism. 38 who entertained Motecuhzoma, using "their
natives in which artifacts are rendered more or The first European sketches of real Aztecs feet as ours do their hands" and holding "be-
less exactly but often without a proper aware- were by Christoph Weiditz, a medal maker born tween their feet a log as big as a girder, round,
ness of their function. The effect is often com- in Strasbourg who worked in Augsburg from even, and smooth, which they toss into the air
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posite, a mixture of elements from different 1526 to 1528. Perhaps because of the rivalry of and catch, spinning it a couple of thousand
cultural contexts. This is especially true for two local goldsmiths, he accepted an invitation from times, so cleverly and quickly that the eye can
drawings made by Burgkmair after 1519 that Johannes Dantiscus to come to Spain to secure hardly follow it. //46 Lopez de Gomara also
integrate Brazilian and Aztec elements (cat. an imperial decree protecting him from his described another game, tlachtli, which Mote-
405)- 32 opponents. He went to Spain in 1529 and after cuhzoma used to watch at the tlachco (ball
It is a pity that Dtirer's and Burgkmair's that to the Netherlands in 1531-1532. Weiditz court): "The ball itself is called ullamalixtli,
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drawings were done in monochrome, as color seems to have followed the imperial court which is made of the gum of the ulli, a tree of
would have helped us to identify more precisely through Castile and Aragon to Barcelona in the
the artifacts they sketched, especially the spring of 1529. It is probable that he struck his
feather work. The earliest case we have of care- medals of Charles v and Hernan Cortes at that
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fully recorded Indian objects in European art is time. Most extraordinary is a manuscript he
found in a Portuguese Adoration of the Magi produced, the Trachtenbuch, in which he
(cat. 32) probably made between 1501 and 1506 recorded Spanish society, from members of the
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for the Capela-Mor da Se in Viseu. Instead of imperial court to African slaves. This volume
painting a traditional black magus, the anony- of drawings is one of the earliest attempts to
mous artist showed a Brazilian native with a compile a costume book, a genre that flourished
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feather headdress. His nakedness is covered by a in the second half of the century. The interest,
richly patterned shirt and breeches, presumably both historical and ethnographic, of Weiditz's
to make him presentable to the Holy Family. 35 collection of drawings is enhanced by the pres-
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Even this fanciful European costume is fringed ence of a portrait of Cortes and no fewer than
with feathers. The shoes are clearly of European eleven drawings, two of them on double pages,
origin, but the earrings in white coral and the of Aztecs. In 1528, when Cortes made his first
various necklaces, the golden anklets and arm- return visit to Spain, he brought back with him
lets, and the coconut cup all have exotic over- a group of Aztecs, including acrobats and
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tones. Most interesting is his arrow, typically dwarfs. Weiditz's drawings must have been
Brazilian with its long shaft and, as here, black completed before 22 March 1529, when the
foreshaft. Even the red fore-end is clearly visi- Aztecs left Barcelona for Seville. 44
ble, as is the radial fletching bound at the end In his album Weiditz drew three Aztec jug-
and in the middle of the feathering. 37 glers lying on their backs throwing and catching
Such careful but composite renderings con- a log with their feet. The artist caught the fig. 5. Christoph Weiditz, "Mexican Juggler/' Trach-
trast with most early European images of kinetic progression of the action but in fact tenbuch, 1529, pi. 9: "This is an Indian; he lies on his
back and twirls a log-bole on his heels; it is as long as
Indians, which are based merely on written sketched three different Indians; this is con- a man and as heavy; on the ground under him he has
descriptions, especially the more sensational firmed by the variations in their dress and facial a leather [mat]; it is as large as a calfskin/' German-
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passages. Most book illustrations and broad- decorations. In his History of the Conquest of isches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
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