Monday, October 22, 2018

16C Europeans Imagine American Women

Early depictions of America as a woman appeared well before the 17C. On 16C maps, ceramics, prints, sculptures, and paintings, America was depicted as fierce bare-breasted Indian queen often adorned in feathers. Gradually, as the British American colonies began to flourish, the female image of America evolved into a graceful Indian princess occasionally accompanied by a fearsome rattlesnake or alligator. Eventually some came to identify the Indian princess as the unruly daughter of Britannia, the symbol of Great Britain.
Krummelsches Haus, built in 1674, Wernigerode, Germany. Here a female America rides a crocodile.