Jamestown and Beyond: The World of 1607 Explore twelve compelling works of art that illustrate and illuminate the world of 1607 and the legacy of Jamestown. Some were created by European, African, Asian, and South American cultures around the time that Jamestown was struggling to survive. Others were produced in the centuries that followed as artists drew from fact, legend—and sometimes their imaginations—to depict life in and around the Jamestown colony. Grade Level: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12 Collection: African Art, American Art, European Art, Pre-Columbian Art, South Asian Art Culture/Region: Virginia Subject Area: History and Social Science Activity Type: Resource Set Introduction "O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beautious mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in't!"– Miranda in The Tempest by William Shakespeare Scholars believe that William Strachey’s account of the wreck of the Sea Venture on its way to Virginia inspired Shakespeare to write The Tempest. The history of Jamestown evokes images of the “brave new world” reached by small ships defying Atlantic storms, a rough-hewn palisade, and stalwart explorers who faced danger, disease, and hunger. The term “New World” has traditionally referred to the large continents of the Western Hemisphere encountered by European explorers in search of new routes to Asia. In a sense, however, the entire world underwent a transformation during the age of exploration, conquest, and trade that followed the fifteenth century. For the first time in human history, political, economic, and cultural networks connected people in every quarter of the globe. Exchanges of plants and animals changed diets and new diseases and technologies crossed the Atlantic. Political and religious ideas and concepts transformed societies, economic fluctuations had worldwide effects, vast populations were relocated, and the first truly international wars were fought. The establishment of Jamestown by the English also marked a turning point for North America. Early Spanish and French explorers and soldiers had sailed to the western continents primarily to gain wealth and power. The Jamestown colonists, from a small island nation with overcrowded cities and dwindling opportunities, were seeking a new home and a brighter future. They too looked for gold, but they also wanted land and were willing to acquire it from the “naturals” who lived there by any means necessary. They brought their families, a political heritage that included certain rights and privileges, and great hope for the future of the New World. Landing at Jamestown 1841 , American Medium: oil on panel Accession ID: 85.631 For the last four hundred years, the gripping story of the first permanent English foothold in the New World has inspired American artists. John Gadsby Chapman painted this romanticized scene of Jamestown colonists and a group of Virginia Indians in 1841. The inscription on the beached boat to the left is “Hope of James Towne,” while a notation on the back of the panel reads “Old Times in the New World.” By age nineteen, Chapman was painting professionally and attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He traveled to Rome and Florence for further study in 1828. Although his biblical scenes enjoyed success in Italy, he turned to subjects that celebrated the American past after returning home in 1831. Chapman spent some years painting portraits and landscapes in Virginia before settling in New York City in 1834, where he became a member of the National Academy of Design. During his distinguished career, he produced a number of other paintings that relate to the history of Jamestown. These included The Crowning of Powhatan, The Warning of Powhatan, and The Baptism of Pocahontas, the last commissioned by the U.S. government for the Rotunda of the Capitol and unveiled in 1840. Suggested Activities Looking to Learn: Perceive, Know, Care About (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/looking-to-learn-perceive -know-care-about/) Writing to Learn: Narrative (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/writing-to-learn-narrative /) Sketching to Learn: Beyond the Frame (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/sketching-to-learn-beyon d-the-frame/) Moving to Learn: Living Tableau (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/__trashed-7/) Ewer ca. 1600 , Spanish Medium: silver, gilt, jasper, marble Accession ID: 63.36.1 This glittering ewer and basin set was made in Castile during the Spanish Renaissance. The intricate arabesque designs, characteristic of the time (around 1600), reflect the Oriental splendor of Spain’s Moorish heritage. Used by aristocratic and middle class families for mealtime washing, these ornate objects suggest the riches of the Americas that created a century of opulence in Spain. In 1469, the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile heralded the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire. By the end of 1492, the Catholic monarchs had driven the last Moorish king out of Spain, expelled the Jews, and turned their gaze toward the riches of the East. During the next century, Spanish conquistadors seized power and wealth in the New World, vanquishing many of its native civilizations. The silver and gold pouring into the country’s treasuries financed Spain’s troops during the European wars that followed the ascension of Phillip II (heir of Habsburg Emperor Charles V and great-grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella) to the Spanish throne in 1556. New World gold also built the formidable Spanish fleet—and lured many European sea captains into raiding treasure-laden ships as they crossed the Atlantic. Eventually, Spanish wealth triggered waves of inflation throughout Europe. Spain’s traditional industries declined and the Spanish economy collapsed, ending the era of Spain’s military and economic ascendancy. Suggested Activities Looking to Learn: What Makes You Say That? (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/looking-to-learn-what-ma kes-you-say-that/) Writing to Learn: Simile and Metaphor (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/writing-to-learn-simile-an d-metaphor/) Sketching to Learn: Contour Drawing (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/sketching-to-learn-conto ur-drawing/) Moving to Learn: Make It Move (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/moving-to-learn-make-it- move/) Qero 17th century , Colonial Inca Medium: wood with polychrome pigments Accession ID: 59.28.12 This drinking vessel, or qero in the Inca language Quechua, was carved and decorated by Inca artisans in the central highlands of Peru during the colonial period. Qeros were used during communal religious festivals and celebrations to hold maize beer called chicha. The beaker shape can be traced back to some of the earliest cultures in Peru, thousands of years before the Inca, but this seventeenth-century vessel incorporates Spanish influences into the traditional design. The figures—hunters and animals—reflect European styles of figure painting, while the geometric stepped pattern of the central band is distinctly Inca. Over the course of the sixteenth-century, many civilizations in the Americas fell before advancing Spanish invaders. From the base established in Hispaniola in the early 1500s, Ponce de Leon conquered Puerto Rico and Diego Velázquez subjugated Cuba. By 1519, Hernando Cortes had defeated the Aztecs in Mexico, and by 1533, Francisco Pizarro had conquered the empire of the Incas. The effect of these campaigns on the indigenous cultures of the Americas was catastrophic. European diseases decimated native populations. Survivors faced Spanish soldiers—wielding steel weapons and riding fearsome horses—and priests intent on rooting out all traditional beliefs and customs that conflicted with Roman Catholicism. Suggested Activities Looking to Learn: I See, I Think, I Wonder (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/looking-to-learn-i-see-i-th ink-i-wonder/) Writing to Learn: Creative Comparisons (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/writing-to-learn-creative- comparisons/) Sketching to Learn: 30-second Sketch (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/sketching-to-learn-30-sec ond-sketch/) Moving to Learn: Make It Move (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/moving-to-learn-make-it- move/) Extensive Landscape with View of the Castle of Mariemont 1609-11 , Flemish Medium: oil on canvas Accession ID: 53.10 The figures in this landscape—the gentlemen, servants, horses, and dogs—could easily inhabit a Jamestown scene. Even the outer defenses of the castle in this landscape by Jan Brueghel the Elder are similar to those of James Fort. The painting, however, actually depicts Archduke Albert of Austria, regent of the Spanish Netherlands, and his companions. The archduke, looking through his telescope, is probably hunting pheasant in this agreeable country setting—dramatically different from the dense forests, strange fauna, and mosquito-ridden marshes of Virginia that confronted the Jamestown settlers. The artist’s native Flanders was located in the Spanish Netherlands, an area within the Spanish Hapsburg Empire. The southern provinces of the Spanish Netherlands remained loyal to Spain during its age of expansion, but the northern provinces revolted against Catholic monarch Philip II in a series of Low Country campaigns. Known as the Eighty Years’ War, the struggle continued intermittently from 1569 until 1648. The antagonism between Anglican England and Catholic Spain made England a natural ally for these northern Dutch forces, and, in fact, many early Jamestown leaders acquired their military expertise in the Low Country Wars. Suggested Activities Looking to Learn: Elaboration Game (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/looking-to-learn-elaborati on-game/) Writing to Learn: Headlines, Tweets, and Memes (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/writing-to-learn-headline s-tweets-and-memes/) Sketching to Learn: Hand and Voice (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/sketching-to-learn-hand- and-voice/) Moving to Learn: Living Tableau (https://www.vmfa.museum/learn/resources/__trashed-7/) Sir Thomas Dale ca. 1609-1619 , Flemish (active in England) Medium: Oil on canvas Accession ID: 52.8 Like many ambitious young Englishmen of his day, Thomas Dale began his career during the Low Country Wars.