Le Roy d'Albion ou Nouvelle Angleterre
Nicolas de Larmessin I, 1632 - 1694
c. 1670-80
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
S/NPG.2021.49
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
RibbonHeaddressEarringNecklaceMustachePortraitPrintUnidentified Native American Man: Male
About this artwork
Seventeenth-century artists often relied more on imagination than fact in meeting the demand for representations of Indigenous Americans. This fanciful image of a fictitious “King of Albion”—the supposed ruler of New England—adapts European conventions to the portrayal of a distinctly non-European monarch. The king’s feathered headdress encircles his head like a crown, and his jewel-edged fur, gathered at the shoulders, resembles the drapery of ancient Greek statuary. The inscription below the p...