John White (colonist and Artist) - Gentleman Artist

Gentleman Artist

In 1585 White had been commissioned to "draw to life" the inhabitants of the New World and their surroundings. During White's time at Roanoke Island, he completed numerous watercolor drawings of the surrounding landscape and native peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard, and predate the first body of "discovery voyage art" created in the late 18th century by the artists who sailed with Captain James Cook. They represent the sole surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America, encountered by England's first settlers.

White's enthusiasm for watercolor was unusual - most contemporary painters preferred to use oil-based paints. White's watercolors would soon become a sensation in Europe and it was not long before the paintings were engraved by the Flemish master engraver Theodore de Bry, and through the medium of print, became widely known and distributed; published in 1590 under the title "America".