Neither John White (1539-1593) nor Mark Catesby (1683-1749) were professional artists or mapmakers, but both men created illustrations and maps that influenced European culture. The documentary images they created during their voyages to North America were published in works that helped introduce Europeans to this region, and influenced other artists, naturalists, scientists, and mapmakers.
John White
Virginea Pars: Map of the East Coast of North America from Chesapeake Bay to Cape Lookout
1585
As a member of the first expedition to Virginia (now North Carolina) and based on information from fellow explorers and Indigenous people, John White created Virginea Pars, one of the most detailed and accurate maps of this area for years to come.
White practiced the Renaissance art of limning, which comes from the medieval word luminer, meaning an illuminator or decorator of books or manuscripts. Limning included decorative handwriting, the use of gold and silver, and the drawing of vignettes, coats of arms, and other embellishments.
This watercolor and graphite map is both a political and historical document. The English royal coat of arms at top claims this land for England, while a smaller coat of arms honors Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition’s organizer. Two of the expedition’s ships, the Tyger and Elizabeth, are shown sailing past Cape Lookout and Wococon, providing additional documentary information about the voyage.
North Carolina Collection
Copyright 1964 by Trustees of the British Museum; Page-Holgate Watercolor Facsimiles of the John White Drawings
Mark Catesby
A Map of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands with the Adjacent Parts
1743
Mark Catesby based this hand-colored map on Henry Popple’s A Map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish Settlements Adjacent Thereto. This map was included in his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, the first natural history of American birds, animals, and plants. Catesby drew the illustrations, wrote the text, and made the copper engravings. On this map, he inserted his own stylized seaweed and seashell-covered cartouche, inspired by the sea life he documented.
North Carolina Collection