Sunday, October 13
These cartoons are the political satire of its time, as clever and punchy as the TV panel shows that do the same job today.
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| "The Plumb-pudding in danger". James Gillray. 1805 |
"The Plumb-pudding in danger".
William Pitt, wearing a regimental uniform and hat, is sitting at a table with Napoleon. They are each carving a large plum pudding on which is a map of the world. Pitt's slice is considerably larger than Napoleon's. The new emperor and his opponent the English Minister, are helping themselves. One taking the land, the other the sea. The cartoon comments the propositions made by the new emperor for a reconcialiation with England in January of 1805.
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| "Boney at Bayonne blowing a Spanish bubble". 1808 |
"Boney at Bayonne blowing a Spanish bubble".
Napoleon is convincing the Spanish royalty, who are enclosed in a bubble, of his friendship as he fires a cannonball at Madrid.
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| "Boney bringing home the truth from Spain". 1808 |
"Boney bringing home the truth from Spain".
Napoleon is assuring his subjects, who have animal faces, that all is well in Spain. However, one animal/man wonders why Napoleon fails to mention his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, that he had installed on the Spanish Throne.
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| "King Joe disposing of his Spanish crown!!!"1808 |
"King Joe disposing of his Spanish crown!!!"
King Joseph I is attempting to auction off his crown.
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| "The journey of a modern hero, to the island of Elba" |
"The journey of a modern hero, to the island of Elba".
Napoleon was exiled to Elba, and the British had a great time. He sits backwards on a donkey going to Elba. His sword is broken and he holds on to the donkey's tail. The drummers mean that this is a solemn moment.
(If you would like any of these cartoons high resolution, just tell me and I will send them to you)
Sunday, October 21
King Joseph Bonaparte blanketed. El Rey José Bonaparte manteado
4 comentarios Publicado por isabelgg en 11:45 AM
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| A Spanish Joke!. George Cruikshank (Click to enlarge or download)
(I am going to post this entry both in English and in Spanish)
A Spanish Joke (5 September, 1808) is a cartoon by British famous caricaturist George Cruikshank. It is based on Chapter XVII of Don Quixote in which he leaves the Inn without paying for his bill and without looking to see if his squire Sancho was following him.
“The innkeeper when he saw him go without paying him ran to get payment of Sancho, who said that as his master would not pay neither would he, because, being as he was squire to a knight-errant, the same rule and reason held good for him as for his master with regard to not paying anything in inns and hostelries. At this the innkeeper waxed very wroth, and threatened if he did not pay to compel him in a way that he would not like. To which Sancho made answer that by the law of chivalry his master had received he would not pay a rap, though it cost him his life; for the excellent and ancient usage of knights-errant was not going to be violated by him, nor should the squires of such as were yet to come into the world ever complain of him or reproach him with breaking so just a privilege.
The ill-luck of the unfortunate Sancho so ordered it that among the company in the inn there were four woolcarders from Segovia, three needle-makers from the Colt of Cordova, and two lodgers from the Fair of Seville, lively fellows, tender-hearted, fond of a joke, and playful, who, almost as if instigated and moved by a common impulse, made up to Sancho and dismounted him from his ass, while one of them went in for the blanket of the host's bed; but on flinging him into it they looked up, and seeing that the ceiling was somewhat lower what they required for their work, they decided upon going out into the yard, which was bounded by the sky, and there, putting Sancho in the middle of the blanket, they began to raise him high, making sport with him as they would with a dog at Shrovetide. The cries of the poor blanketed wretch were so loud that they reached the ears of his master, who, halting to listen attentively, was persuaded that some new adventure was coming, until he clearly perceived that it was his squire who uttered them. Wheeling about he came up to the inn with a laborious gallop, and finding it shut went round it to see if he could find some way of getting in; but as soon as he came to the wall of the yard, which was not very high, he discovered the game that was being played with his squire. He saw him rising and falling in the air with such grace and nimbleness that, had his rage allowed him, it is my belief he would have laughed. He tried to climb from his horse on to the top of the wall, but he was so bruised and battered that he could not even dismount; and so from the back of his horse he began to utter such maledictions and objurgations against those who were blanketing Sancho as it would be impossible to write down accurately: they, however, did not stay their laughter or their work for this, nor did the flying Sancho cease his lamentations, mingled now with threats, now with entreaties but all to little purpose, or none at all, until from pure weariness they left off. They then brought him his ass, and mounting him on top of it they put his jacket round him…”George Cruikshank uses this Chapter and shows Napoleon on his horse on the other side of the wall (a clear reference to The Pyrenees ). He sees his brother Joseph Bonaparte rising and falling in the air the same as Sancho Panza and he threatens those blanketing him just as Don Quixote did.
Joseph loses his crown and begs them to stop. John Bull is depicted as the Inn Keeper, he is showing a piece of paper titled “Surrender Juno” while he is cheering the Spaniards.
On The left corner Sancho’s sack full of silver and gold makes reference to Sancho’s alforjas that he left behind in the Inn as he hurried out. This way the Inn Keeper got his payment of what was owing to him.
Translation based in the blog "As Invasoes Francesas"
A Spanish Joke, (5 de Sptiembre, 1808) es una caricatura del famoso caricaturista británico George Cruikshank. Se basa en el capítulo XVII de Don Quijote cuando sale de la posada después de discutir con el posadero, sin pagar su estancia y sin mirar siquiera si Sancho le seguía.
“El ventero, que le vio ir, y que no le pagaba, acudió a cobrar de Sancho Panza, el cual dijo, que pues su señor no había querido pagar, que tampoco él pagaría, porque siendo él escudero de caballero andante como era, la misma regla y razón corría por él como por su amo en no pagar cosa alguna en los mesones y ventas. Amohinóse mucho desto el ventero, y amenazóle que si no le pagaba, lo cobraría de modo que le pesase. A lo cual Sancho respondió, que por la ley de caballería que su amo había recibido, no pagaría un solo cornado aunque le costase la vida, porque no había de perder por él la buena y antigua usanza de los caballeros andantes, ni se habían de quejar de los escuderos de los tales que estaban por venir al mundo, reprochándole el quebrantamiento de tan justo fuero.
Quiso la mala suerte del desdichado Sancho, que entre la gente que estaba en la venta se hallasen cuatro perailes de Segovia, tres agujeros del potro de Córdoba, y dos vecinos de la heria de Sevilla, gente alegre, bien intencionada, maleante y juguetona; los cuales casi como instigados y movidos de un mismo espíritu, se llegaron a Sancho, y apeándole del asno, uno dellos entró por la manta de la cama del huésped, y echándole en ella alzaron los ojos y vieron que el techo era algo más bajo de lo que habían menester para su obra y determinaron salirse al corral, que tenía por límite el cielo, y allí puesto Sancho en mitad de la manta, comenzaron a levantarla en alto y a holgarse con él como un perro por carnastolendas. Las voces que el mísero manteado daba fueron tantas, que llegaron a los oídos de su amo, el cual, deteniéndose a escuchar atentamente, creyó que alguna nueva aventura le venía, hasta que claramente conoció que el que gritaba era su escudero, y volviendo las riendas, con un penado golpe llegó a la venta, y hallándola cerrada, la rodeó por ver si hallaba por donde entrar; pero no hubo entrado a las paredes del corral, que no eran muy altas, cuando vió el mal juego que se le hacía a su escudero.
Vióle bajar y subir por el aire con tanta gracia y presteza, que si la cólera le dejara, tengo para mí que se riera. Probó a subir desde el caballo a las bardas; pero estaba tan molido y quebrantado, que aún apearse no pudo, y así desde encima del caballo comenzó a decir tantos denuestos y baldones a los que a Sancho manteaban, que no es posible acertar a escribillos; mas no por esto cesaban ellos de su risa y de su obra, ni el volador Sancho dejaba sus quejas, mezcladas ya con amenazas, ya con ruegos; mas todo aprovechaba poco, ni aprovechó hasta que de puro cansados le dejaron. Trajéronle allí su asno, y subiéronle encima, le arroparon con su gabán…”
George Cruikshank se sirve de este episodio y representa a Napoleón a caballo a la otra parte del muro (una clara alusión a los Pireneos). Ve a su hermano, José Bonaparte siendo lanzado en el aire lo mismo que Sancho Panza y amenaza e injuria a los españoles que lo están manteando igual que hizo Don Quijote. (“Viles cobardes,¿ cómo osáis tratar a mi escudero de ese modo tan descortes? Sabed que si yo saltara la pared… y seguro que lo haré…)
Uno de los españoles se gira para Napoleón y le replica: “No nos importa nada ni vos ni semejantes villanos” Otro declara: “Esto es por robar a la posada y huir sin pagar la cuenta”. Al otro lado una monja exclama: “Un manteo por nuestro Fernando”
En pleno aire José I pierde su corona e implora que se acabe con el manteo. “Ah, misericordia para el rey Jo, este es un mal momento para mantear al rey Jo.
John Bull, o mejor, Don Bull se representa como al posadero, exhibe un papel con el título “Rendición de Juno” y anima a los españoles con el manteo: “Esa es vuestra clase, muchachos! Arriba con él mis amigos, Hurra! Aquí hay mas barcos, colonias y comercio pero no para el hermano de Napoleón”
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Saturday, June 2
Manuscript maps. Book of Penmanship by Frances A. Henshaw
1 comentarios Publicado por isabelgg en 12:18 PM
Book of Penmanship by Frances A. Henshaw
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| Indiana. Frances A. Henshaw. 1823 (Click to enlarge or download) |
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century American children were taught geography almost entirely through prose, reading and recitation of geodetic texts were thought to be the best aids to spatial memory.
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| Description of Kentucky (Click to enlarge or download) |
A remarkable pedagogical innovation involving the teaching of this discipline started in 1814 when American educator and author of several geography textbooks, Emma Willard, founded Middlebury Female Academy in western Vermont. Her goal was to provide female students with an education equal to that offered to their brothers. So began a revolutionary commitment to the education of women.
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| Emma Willard |
She based geographical instruction and discovery-learning on the construction of personalized, localized, graphical maps. She believed her students would learn better through personal exercises in geospatial and textual graphesis as well as the knowledge production through the creation of images and texts-as-image. So that learning geography also meant learning artistry, as drawing maps was a common assignment. (Based in "Inventing the map" by Bethany Nowviskie. Poetess Archive Journal 2.1, 20 December, 2010)
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| Vermont (Click to enlarge or download) |
Frances Alsop Henshaw, a gifted 14-year-old student at Middlebury Female Academy produced an amazing cartographic and textual artifact, Book of Penmanship, 29 April 1828. It included a series of gorgeous pen-and-ink hand drawn maps delicately colored of 19 U.S. States accompanying original geographic diagrams for each of the hand drawn maps.
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| Description of Connecticut (Click to enlarge or download) |
These hand drawn maps are stunning in their artistry, but also fascinating in their content. Descriptive and positional texts are displayed in unique patterns, the pattern is different for each of the 19 states. She copied the maps from an atlas available at school or at home.
Henshaw’s Book of Penmanship goes far beyond penmanship, including not only maps of the 19 states accompanying geographical diagrams but also astronomical maps, charts of Copernican and Ptolemaic celestial systems, as well as maps of other cartographic features such as equator, meridian, polar circles, latitude and longitude. Her diagrams serve to illustrate or amplify the geographical data conveyed through her maps.
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| Connecticut (Click to enlarge or download) |
Could our children draw something like this in this age of the Internet, I wonder?
I will send free your State map high resolution willingly, just email me.
Wednesday, April 25
Johann Kautsky’s Tree Lithographies
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| "Sweet Chestnut". Johann Kautsky. (Click to enlarge or download) |
Arbor Day will be observed next Friday, 27th April. It celebrates the role of trees in our lives and promotes tree planting and care.
The idea for Arbor Day was first held in 1872 in Nebraska by Julius Starling Morton and shortly afterwards other states passed legislation to observe Arbor Day each year with appropriate ceremonies.
As for me, I am celebrating Arbor Day giving away a magnificent digital lithography from the 19th century at high resolution. “Sweet Chestnut” by the world famous Czech-German Johann Kautsky. It’s great if it is printed in a large size and finely framed.
Here are some more pictures of Johann Kautsky’s lithographies. All of them are splendid and beautiful (there are 17 altogether). 
Anybody that wants to purchase some of these digital lithographies, just email me and I will send them high resolution immediately at an affordable symbolic price (5€ each). Obviously, the more you buy the cheaper they will be.
An anonymous quote about trees to finish this post. “I am the heat of your heart, the shade screening you from the sun; I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table; I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin. I am the gift of God and the friend of man”
Tuesday, February 7
CHARLES DICKENS
I’m very proud to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’s birth (February 7, 1812) here with this little contribution to commemorate this very special anniversary.
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| (Click to enlarge or download) |
Although a writer from the Victorian era, Dickens’s work transcends his time, language and culture. He remains a massive contemporary influence throughout the world and his writings continue to inspire film, TV, art, literature, artist and academia.
Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England. He was the second of eight children. His father earned a low income as a clerk in the Navy pay office. The family was poor and moved from one home to another in London to get away from creditors. When Dickens was 12 years old, his father was imprisoned for debt. During this time, Dickens lived a miserable life. He worked in a factory and lived alone in a very small room. A small inheritance improved the family’s position and Dickens was able to go to a private school until the age of 14. His real education came from his experiences, extensive reading and observation of everyday life. When he was 15 years old, he got a job as a clerk in a solicitor’s office. He then worked as a reporter in the law courts and legal proceedings in the House of Commons. This experience found its way into many of his books. At this time, he started writing articles for magazines and sketches of the life and manners of the time. In 1837, he was approached by a publisher to write a story to accompany some drawings. This developed into The Pickwick Papers and was the beginning of his career as a prolific writer.
His novels reflect the social conditions of the age in which he lived. As a social commentator, he wrote about the harsh reality of working-class life and exposed the evils of Victorian urban society. In 19th century England, the rights of children were not well protected. The rapid development of manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution created a huge demand for cheap labour and even very young children were sent to work in factories. Victorian novelists who portrayed these conditions in their books were accused of obscenity and of encouraging rebellion. Boarding schools were very common in Victorian England since it was believed that children raised by their parents would be spoiled. The conditions in these schools were often harsh, with poor food, little heat and cold water for washing. The discipline was strict and physical punishment was common.
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| (Click to enlarge or download) |
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| Dickens and his daughters (Click to enlarge or download) |
Dickens was also a champion of middle-class family values, although his own marriage was not a happy one. After 22 years of marriage, he and his wife Catherine separated. They had ten children, many of them named after famous writers and one of his daughters was named Dora after the character in his book David Copperfield. The real Dora died tragically of an illness just like Dora in the book. He had a pet raven named Grip. When the bird died he had it stuffed and it is now in the Free Library of Philadelphia.
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| (Click to enlarge or download) |
He died at the age of 58 and is buried in Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey, London.
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| Olivrt Twist. Oliver asks for more |
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| Marley's Ghost. A Christmas Carol |
Dickens enjoyed great success, fame and popularity in his lifetime both in England and America. His great novels were Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1841), Barnaby Rudge (1841), David Copperfield (1848-1849) and Bleak House (1852-1853). In David Copperfield, Dickens draws on characters and events from his own experiences. Many of Charles Dickens' books were printed in magazines in serial form before being published in book format. Unlike other authors who finished their stories before the magazines printed them, Dickens often wrote each episode as they were being serialized. This meant that his stories had a rhythm which kept the reader looking forward to the next episode, just like a modern day TV series.
Enjoy reading some quotes from the great man himself:
“Minds, like bodies, will often fall into a pimpled, ill-conditioned state from mere excess of comfort.”
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
“Accidents will occur in the best regulated families
“Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
“Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature.”
“Although a skillful flatterer is a most delightful companion if you have him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people.”
“Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.”
“Credit is a system whereby a person who cannot pay gets another person who cannot pay to guarantee that he can pay.”
“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all doing direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” (A Tale of Two Cities).
I have done some PDFs with beautiful stories by Charles Dickens, so If you like to read them, just download them from HERE. Enjoy it all!
Tuesday, January 24
Audubon’s engravings.French- American naturalist, ornithologist and artist John James Audubon (1785-1951) was born in the French colony of Santa Domingo, later known as Haiti. He was son of a sea captain, Jean Audubon and a servant girl on a sugar plantation. His mother Jeanne Rabin died when he was not yet a year old. His father cared for him a couple of years then sent the child to France to be raised by his middle-aged wife Anne. This selfless woman lovingly raised John and nurtured and provided him education.
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| Hare Indian dog. Plate CXXXII. (Click to enlarge or download) |
When he was a boy he enjoyed wandering through the woods, collecting things from nature, and watching the birds. He began to draw pictures of birds and animals.
When he was eighteen years old his father either sent him or went with him to America to his plantation Mill Grove in Pennsylvania possibly to avoid conscription into Napoleon’s army.
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| White-headed eagle.Plate XXXI. (Click to enlarge or download) |
He continued to draw. He changed from the use of pastels to watercolors. He taught himself through trial and error specializing in birds.
His marriage in 1808 to Lucy Blackwell, an English woman and neighbor, added stability to his life and she was a constant source of encouragement to him. They had four children. Their two daughters died when they were babies, but their two sons lived to adulthood. The sons, Victor and John, became artists and help their father with the painting of the backgrounds for his birds. They were also active in the publication of his works.
During his early days in America he worked at improving his drawing techniques, and became skilled at specimen preparation and taxidermy, even working for a time in that capacity at a museum in Cincinnati
Audubon was the first person to start bird-banding studies in America. He tied lightweight strings to their legs, and he could track their travels as they nested, left the area, and then returned to the nest.
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| Yellow-billed Magpie. Plate CCCLXII |
He travelled across the eastern and central United States -often alone, sometimes with an assistant- to gather images of over 500 known species of bird. He would often draw them from life, but sometimes killed his avian subjects and posed them with wires into life-like positions in order to capture them on paper. The latter technique guaranteed the birds wouldn’t fly off. He used all sorts of media considered unconventional at the time to create his masterpiece images. Backgrounds were created sometimes by the artist himself but more often by several assistants. These paintings reflect Audubon's love and fascination with the beauty and dynamics of American birds and the rest of their natural heritage. He printed them on large sheets of paper labeled "Double Elephant Folio" because of its large size. The resulting monumental book was called Birds of America that was a well-planned venture long before it finally came to fruition, it took him 12 years to complete his ambitious work. Audubon had the title in mind when he set about in 1820 to paint every known bird in America. Each species is illustrated showing male, female and juveniles in their natural habitat, exhibiting typical behavior and not only does he give us high definition and painstakingly observed scientific detail, he also depicts each species with such beauty, that he seems to reveal some kind of fundamental truth. His goal was to eventually produce a body of work that would far surpass any other in existence. And he did exactly that. For nearly three years he roamed down the Mississippi River and across the American frontier searching out specimens to paint, sometimes purchasing them from local hunters.
Since American printers couldn’t accommodate the oversize plates he insisted upon using, Audubon traveled to Great Britain where his paintings (and he himself) became an overnight sensation. The Brits were eager to learn anything about the new American frontier, its people and environs. The book’s original edition was printed by engraver Robert Havell (and son) starting in 1826. The process of engraving and printing all 435 plates took a dozen years and cost Audubon $111,640, a huge sum for the time. He financed the initial printing mainly through advance subscriptions, (including King George IV, an admirer of Audubon),exhibitions, and lectures (a teen-aged Charles Darwin attended one of these).
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| Jumping mouse. Plate LXXXV. (Click to enlarge or download) |
Audubon originally published about 750 copies of Birds of America of which only 219 copies are extant today. Of those, only 119 complete copies exist, most of which are in museum and library collections. Eleven copies are in private hands and this latest intact volume is one of two auctioned in 2010 for more than £7.3 million. It’s the most expensive book in the world and maybe the most beautiful.
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| Townsends Rocky Mountain Hare. Plate III. (Click to enlarge or download) |
Audubon also applied his methodology and artistry to create a record of the Native American mammals. He published a large book of animal drawings, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America which became an immediate success on publication, illustrated many frontier mammals never before seen or depicted. Sadly, Audubon died before the publication of his final project and was completed posthumously by his son, John Woodhouse Audubon. The legacy of Audubon to the world was in these two superb works on American Birds and Quadrupeds which have come to signify a love of all wild creatures and the environment, epitomized today by the Audubon Society, as well as immortalized worldwide in publications and the stamps of over 60 countries.
As you can see Audubon combined scientific observation and exquisite beauty.
If some of you are interested in these engravings, just email me. I will give some of them for free until 31st January 2012. After that date you will be able to purchase them at a symbolic price, sure we will reach agreement.
Sunday, December 11
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| Easter Island. James Cook. Voyage towards the South Pole. 1777 (Click to enlarge or download) |
Easter Island based on Captain James Cook and Jean-François de la Pérouse's engravings.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a volcanic island consisting mainly of three extinct coalesced volcanoes. It is one of the most isolated islands in the world but 1200 years ago a double-hulled canoe filled with seafarers from a distant culture landed upon its shores, the legends say King Hoto Matua and his family landed in Anakena beach, thus beginning the occupation of Easter Island. Over the centuries that followed a remarkable society developed in isolation on the island. For reasons still unknown they began carving giant statues out of volcanic rock and at present Easter Island is best known for its 887 giant stone monoliths, known as Moai, that dot the coastline.
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| Canoe Easter Island. Atlas du voyage de la Pérouse. 1797 (Click to enlarge or download) |
The early settlers called the island "Te Pito O Te Henua" (Navel of The World). Admiral Roggeveen, who came upon the island on Easter Day in 1722, named it Easter Island. Today, the land, people and language are all referred to locally as Rapa Nui.
Today is the most famous example of societies that overtook their ecological limits and collapsed as a result. Easter Island has become, for many, a metaphor for ecological disaster.
The first islanders found a lush island, filled with giant palms which they used to build boats and housing. The plants they brought with them did well in the rich volcanic soil and by AD 1550 population on the island hit a high of between 7000 and 9000, far exceeding the capabilities of the small island's ecosystem. Resources became scarce, and the once lush palm forests were destroyed - cleared for agriculture and moving the massive stone Moai. It is not certain, but the moai appear to have been built as part of status competition between the various tribus on the island, with bigger moai demonstrating greater power. The early seventeenth century was probably the pinnacle of Easter Island culture, when the biggest moai were built. However, moai construction consumed a lot of resources, particularly wood, for transport and energy and by 1650, the last tree had been felled. With the loss of the forests, the land began to erode. The small amount of topsoil quickly washed into the sea. The crops began to fail and the clans turned on one another in a battle for the scarce resources. The violence grew worse and worse. It was said that the victors would eat their dead enemies to gain strength, bones found on the island show evidence of this cannibalism.
This way the island suffered from heavy soil erosion, it was a wasteland, the eroded soil just barely producing enough food for the meager population to survive. It was under these conditions that the Birdman Cult arose.This process of erosion seems to have been gradual and may have been aggravated by sheet farming throughout most of the 20th century.
By the time Europeans arrived on the island’s shores in 1722, the number of easter Islanders had fallen dramatically, and they had been reduced to war and cannibalism.
It is nevertheless true that the world Jacob Roggeveen first observed when arriving on Rapa Nui was a land exceptionally fertile "Fowls are the only animals they keep. They cultivate bananas, sugar cane, and above all sweet potatoes.
In 1774, British explorer James Cook visited Easter Island; he reported that some statues had fallen over.
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| Atlas du voyage de la Pérouse. 1797 (Click to enlarge or download) |
In 1786 Jean-François de la Pérouse visited Easter Island and his gardener declared that "three days' work a year" would be enough to support the population.
Rollin, a major in the Pérouse expedition, wrote, "Instead of meeting with men exhausted by famine... I found, on the contrary, a considerable population, with more beauty and grace than I afterwards met in any other island; and a soil, which, with very little labor, furnished excellent provisions, and in an abundance more than sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants.
The British ship HMS Blossom arrived in 1825 and reported seeing no standing statues. Easter Island was approached many times during the 19th century, but by then the islanders had become openly hostile to any attempt to land, and very little new information was reported before the 1860s.
Moai
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| Moai. Easter Island. James Cook. Voyage towards the South Pole. 1777 (Click to enlarge or download) |
"Moai" are some of the most incredible ancient relics ever discovered. Although often identified as "Easter Island heads", the statues are actually torsos, with most of them ending at the top of the thighs. The islanders call them "moai," and they have puzzled ethnographers, archaeologists, and visitors to the island since the first European explorers arrived here in 1722. In their isolation, why did the early Easter Islanders undertake this colossal statue-building effort? Unfortunately, there is no written record (and the oral history is scant) to help tell the story of this remote land, its people, and the significance of the nearly 900 giant moai that punctuate Easter Island's barren landscape.
They stand with their backs to the sea and are believed by most archaeologists to represent the spirits of ancestors, chiefs, or other high-ranking males who held important positions in the history of Rapa Nui. The statues may have been created in the image of various paramount chiefs. They were not individualized portrait sculptures, but standardized representations of powerful individuals. The moai may also hold a sacred role in the life of the Rapa Nui, acting as ceremonial conduits for communication with the gods.
Almost all (95%) moai were carved out of distinctive, compressed, easily worked solidified volcanic ash found at a single site inside the extinct volcano Rano Raraku. The soft volcanic tuff was perfect material for statue carving. Using harder volcanic rock implements they were able to first sketch out the moai's outline in the rock wall and then systematically chip away at it until the moai was held in place by a thin "keel."
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| Monuments, L'Ille de Pâque, details. Atlas du vogage de la Pérouse. 1797 (Click to enlarge or download) |
The moai carvers were master craftsmen, they were ingenious in making the most out of sections of rock, moai can be seen carved in all directions in the cliff face. If a defect would appear in the rock the statue would be abandoned and they moved on to another area. They took advantage of fissures in the volcanic walls and also variations in colors. In short they were true artists.
Finally when a statue was finished, it was broken off its keel and slid carefully down the slope using ropes tied to giant palm trunks which were sunk in specially prepared holes in rim of the crater. At the base of the crater they were raised up and final decorations were carved into its torso and back. Coral and obsidian eyes were placed in as a final touch, although some suggest these were only placed in the statues on special occasions. Preparation was then made for transport across the island to various ahu. The ahu were the ceremonial platforms built to support collections of moai.
We can see the history of Easter Island is rich and controversial. Its inhabitants have endured famines, epidemics, civil war, slave raids, colonialism, and near deforestation; its population declined precipitously more than once.
Contacts with western “civilization” proved being even more disastrous for the island population through slavery and disease. In 1862 wave after wave of slave traders landed on Easter Island and took away all healthy individuals. In the space of one year, a level of injury, death and disease was inflicted on the population leaving a broken people, bereft of leadership. As their culture lay in disarray a new force entered the scene whose actions would forever deny the world of a true understanding of the Rapa Nui culture.
The missionaries arrived on Easter when the people were at their most vulnerable. With their society in ruins it did not take long to convert the population to Christianity. First to go was the islanders style of dress, or lack thereof. Tattooing and use of body paint were banned. Destruction of Rapa Nui artworks, buildings, and sacred objects, including most of the Rongo-rongo tablets - the key to understanding their history - was swift and complete. Islanders were forced off their ancestral lands and required to live in one small section of the island while the rest of the land was used for ranching.
Eventually all pure Rapa Nui blood died out. Annexation with Chile in 1888 brought new influences and population has risen to more than 2,000 and today there are only a few individuals left with ties to the original population.
The missionaries arrived on Easter when the people were at their most vulnerable. With their society in ruins it did not take long to convert the population to Christianity. First to go was the islanders style of dress, or lack thereof. Tattooing and use of body paint were banned. Destruction of Rapa Nui artworks, buildings, and sacred objects, including most of the Rongo-rongo tablets - the key to understanding their history - was swift and complete. Islanders were forced off their ancestral lands and required to live in one small section of the island while the rest of the land was used for ranching.
Eventually all pure Rapa Nui blood died out. Annexation with Chile in 1888 brought new influences and population has risen to more than 2,000 and today there are only a few individuals left with ties to the original population.
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