Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

kai · 3rd March 2017, 07:28 AM

If you thumb through the illustrations, there are all sorts of similarities from "recycled" artwork - since these illustrations were based on period accounts rather than being sketched on the expedition themselves, they are bound to include quite some artistic license. I believe we need to be very careful with interpreting these (as valuable as these early sources may be). We all know European medieval art depicting the holy land; making illustrations for newly discovered cultures on the other side of the world in the 16th century was much more difficult...

IMHO it would need very convincing evidence to overturn the attribution of the original authors - we really need to dig into the text, too!

Regards,
Kai

3rd March 2017, 07:28 AM	#35
kai Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 3,221	If you thumb through the illustrations, there are all sorts of similarities from "recycled" artwork - since these illustrations were based on period accounts rather than being sketched on the expedition themselves, they are bound to include quite some artistic license. I believe we need to be very careful with interpreting these (as valuable as these early sources may be). We all know European medieval art depicting the holy land; making illustrations for newly discovered cultures on the other side of the world in the 16th century was much more difficult... IMHO it would need very convincing evidence to overturn the attribution of the original authors - we really need to dig into the text, too! Regards, Kai Last edited by kai; 3rd March 2017 at 07:41 AM.