Les Virginiens adorent le feu et se réjouissent après avoir été délivrés de quelque danger considerable

This engraving provides a European perspective on the people and customs native to Tidewater, Virginia. The imagery derives from drawings made by the English artist John White (c. 1539–c. 1593). Over the course of thirteen months in 1585–86, White explored the area surrounding the colony of Roanoke, England’s first attempt at a permanent settlement in North America. The dozens of watercolors he made of local people, buildings, and customs were the earliest European representations of Tidewater communities. White’s drawings gained wide influence through engraved variations published throughout Europe.