In 1564, the French brought along an official artist, Jaques le Moyne, to record their secret colony in Spanish Florida, and his drawings continue to intrigue us.
Le Moyne made many sketches of Fort Caroline, the settlers, the landscape, and the Natives they encountered. But when the Spanish attacked the fort in 1565, Le Moyne escaped, but he lost all his drawings.
Back in France Le Moyne redrew his illustrations from memory. After he died in 1588, his wife sold the illustrations to an engraver, Theodre de Bry, who published them three years later, in 1591. They became a huge success, but there are problems.
De Bry made many editorial changes to Le Moyne’s drawings to make his books more marketable. He altered the people and landscapes, and made different versions for different audiences. But despite the alterations, de Bry’s work preserved the earliest images of people and places, which remain an important source of information about 16th century Florida.
Unearthing Florida is a project of WUWF Public Media, the Florida Public Archaeology Network(FPAN), and its founder, Dr. Judith Bense, since 1998. FPAN's Michael Thomin is a contributor to the program. WUWF's Sandra Averhart is executive producer.
