The Traveling Illustrations of Sixteenth-Century Travel Narratives

The illustrations created by Jörg Breu for the 1515 edition of Ludovico de Varthe ma's account of his voyage to the Middle East, India, and the East Indies (Die rit ter lich uñ lobwirdig Rayss 'The Noble and Praiseworthy Journey') were reprinted in other travel narratives published in the mid-sixteenth century, including Hans Staden's Warhaftige Historia 'True History' (1557), about his captivity among the Tupinambá Indians of Brazil. As recycled illustrations their presence in Staden's text is usually ignored or derided, but their iconography and placement suggest that they were chosen deliberately and not merely for the sake of economy and expedience. By analyzing the images' relation to the accompanying text and comparing the images with those used in other editions and other travel narratives, the article argues that these traveling illustrations do not merely demonstrate the interchangeability of exotic others" but rather suggest a growing awareness of and interest in ethnographic specificity among mid-sixteenth-century European readers. © 2014 Christopher Cannon."