Allegory of America

Philip Tideman

ca. 1696 · Brush and gray ink, over graphite, incised for transfer · Drawings and Prints

This detailed drawing served as a final study for a decorative cartouche in a map of America printed by Carel Allard in 1696. A German print designer and painter who worked primarily in Amsterdam, Tideman here borrowed motifs already in circulation: the native pouring gold, the giant lizard at the feet of the indigenous woman, and her feather headdress and skirt all echo the Nicolaes Berchem's print for the frontispiece of the second volume of John Blaeu's Atlas Maior (1662). Tideman embellished the iconography by adding to the scene decorative feathers as well as plants and animals native to the Americas, such as the pineapple and the armadillo.

Artist

Philip Tideman

Date

ca. 1696

Medium

Brush and gray ink, over graphite, incised for transfer

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Frits and Rita Markus Fund, 2014