Preview
Identifier
metapth231455
Description
In the early eighteenth century, Nuremberg cartographer, map publisher, and engraver Johann Baptist Homann paid homage to French Catholic missionary friar, explorer, and cartographer Father Louis Hennepin with this map of Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley. The cartouche at top left, which credits Hennepin with the discovery of the province of Louisiana, includes an imaginary likeness of the Franciscan Recollect missionary in his brown cloak and robe. The Franciscans wore a rope belt tied at the waist and knotted three times to symbolize the order’s three vocational rules of poverty, obedience, and chastity. Here Hennepin holds up a cross and places his hand upon a young child, who, like the man on the left side of the cartouche, is completely naked. Homann intended these nudes to represent Native Americans although their physical features are entirely European – a common depiction at this time for European artists who had probably never seen a Native American firsthand. The Indian man offers a peace pipe in one hand. Accompanying Hennepin at right is a French soldier wearing a three-cornered hat and carrying a musket. A bison head decorates the top of the cartouche. Below this image is a vignette copy of a widely popular landscape print of Niagara Falls, included as a reference to Hennepin as the first European to describe the natural wonder. Homann probably felt some affinity for Hennepin despite the fact that the German reportedly converted to the Evangelical or Lutheran faith in 1687. As a young man, Homann had originally embarked upon a Catholic monastic education under the Dominican order. [Gift of Virginia Garrett]
Archival Date
ca. 1720
Location
134/8
Collection Name
Cartographic Connections
Collection Number
00675
Publisher
University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
Original Format
Map
File Format
JPG
Rights
Any use of content downloaded or printed from this site is limited to non-commercial personal or educational use, including fair use as directed by U.S. copyright laws. For more information or for reproduction requests, please contact Special Collections
Subjects
Louisiana; Florida; New Mexico; Canada; New England
Item Type
image
Names
Homann, Johann Baptist (1663-1724)
Subjects
Louisiana; Florida; New Mexico; Canada; New England