Originally thought to be one of John White’s drawings from his 16th-century Virginia expedition, this colourful miniature is now attributed to the French artist Jacques Le Moyne. It does not show a North American native as first thought but rather imagines an early inhabitant of the British Isles, a member of the Picts, a group of people who lived in what is now modern-day Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval periods. As Lisa Ford from the Yale Center for British Art notes, the image was most likely “intended to remind readers that early natives of the British Isles existed in a savage state similar to natives in the Americas”. Although the Picts are often said to have tattooed themselves, there is little actual evidence for this, though their name does seem to stem from the Latin word Picti meaning “painted or tattooed people”. As Ford comments, Le Moyne’s rendering of this young woman in a head-to-toe floral tattoo brings together his “two known subject areas, ethnological drawings and botanicals”. Anyone clued up on their history of botany will notice that Le Moyne includes in his floral design species which were newly introduced to Western Europe at the time, and so rendering the woman in the picture slightly anachronistic.
No basis in reality, but a beautiful image. Via The Public Domain.
What an outfit.
There is no outfit! :D
If someone made a bodysuit like that, I’d buy one.
Especially if it had nipples and pubes.
and a sword and spear
If it came with the weapons, I’d definitely buy it.
Now, having pictures of her and her friends and relatives on a gift wrapping paper would be an interesting twist.
I’d buy that wrapping paper! I do have to wonder what a depiction of a young Pict’s son would look like. Did the men get all those pretty flowers, too?
ooooo
long undies
.
mine are a bit worn..
I first thought the scabbard poking out was a tail.
Which would have been awesome.
I believe the men got racing cars and power tools, if my recent trip to the bookstore for giftwrap serves me correctly… ;)