Engraving of Women Resisting Capture by Dutch Pirates, Strait of Magellan, 1768
€ 160
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1768
Sheet size
22.5 × 33.8 cm (8.9 × 13.3 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-13599-48
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Condition is good with minor wear or soiling, due to handling and age. Please study the scans carefully.
About this sheet
Women on the shore of the Strait of Magellan facing death at the hands of Dutch sailors, an original copperplate engraving of 1768 from an English collection of voyages, headed "Engraved for Drake's Voyages" at the top of the sheet with the page number at the right. The caption beneath the image reads "Women expecting death from the hands of Dutch sailors who had murdered their husbands".
The scene is set on a rocky shore beneath a great overhanging ledge of rock, with leafy branches at the upper right and sailing ships at anchor in the bay at the left. At the center and right, sailors in shirts and breeches grasp the arms of women, who are unclothed and cluster in a group, many with children clinging to them, some on their knees with raised hands. At the left a sailor carries off a child under his arm, and the bodies of men lie on the ground in the foreground.
Dutch expeditions of the late sixteenth century, among them Olivier van Noort's voyage round the world in 1598, passed through the Strait of Magellan and clashed with the people of its shores. The plate follows the old travel-book habit of illustrating such episodes as scenes of violence, drawn up in Europe long after the event from the written account.
