[A Portuguese ship comes to look for Staden].

Hans Staden was a German soldier and explorer, who travelled to South America during the mid 16th century. Whilst there he was captured by native Indians in Brazil. He survived this ordeal and eventually returned to Europe.

This print depicts the scene a when boat from the nearby fort of Bertioga comes to look for Staden, he told the Indians that his brother was probably aboard, looking for him. The Indians sent a canoe to speak to the Portuguese but when the sailors asked about Staden, they were told the Indians had no knowledge of him, so they went away assuming he must be dead

Theodore De Bry (1528-1598), was born in Liege in modern day Belgium. Around 1570, when the Spanish invaded the Low Countries he fled to the German city of Strasbourg, where he set up as a goldsmith and engraver.
This experience gave him an anti-Spanish outlook. In 1587, de Bry travelled to London to meet with a Frenchman named Jacques le Moyne. When the first accounts of Dutch, Spanish and British explorers to Asia, South and North America began to be published in the 1580s, De Bry became interested in producing illustrated editions of these early travel reports.

Living in London in the 1580's, he met the geographer Richard Hakluyt. But it was only after settling in Frankfurt, already in his 60's, that de Bry published his first books, Les Grands Voyages, or "The Discovery of America” as well as the similar Petits Voyages, or the "India Orientalis” series.

Theodore De Bry began his compilation of early voyages in 1590, and had published six parts at the time of his death in 1598. His widow, two sons, and another family member continued the work, which comprised a total of fifty-four parts when it was completed in 1630. The publication brought to the European public the first realistic visualization of the exotic world opened up across the Atlantic by the explorers, conquerors and settlers” (Alexander).

More about Theodor De Bry and his "Les Grand Voyages" [+]