Pocahontas

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Pocahontas
1. The Virginia Company struggled to get colonists to come to their colony. How might this portrait have encouraged such migration?
Pocahantos portrait encouraged migration. Though the Virginia Company struggled to get colonists to go to their colony, they had the belief that if they would manage to manage all the Powhatans (Pocahantos included) to Christianity, then this would play a significant role in the survival and economic growth of Jamestown. The company, therefore, funded for missionaries to come from England to the town which saw the beginning of migration. Moreover, when Pocahantos arrived in England, she was together with a group of people and this way also encouraging migration. She also contributed significantly in promoting migration to Jamestown colony through her converting to Christianity and adopting the English culture and customs.
2. Pocahontas was considered as a Native American “princess.” What styles and symbols in the portrait suggest her social standing, and why might these have been incomprehensible to a Native American audience?
Pocahontas is dressed in fine clothing and pearl earrings, and she is holding gold and white fan which is made of ostrich feathers. The fine clothing and the earrings symbolize royalty since they are only worn by those from the royal family and other noble people in the town. The ostrich feather also symbolizes, and it is generally recognized as a European symbol of peace.

These symbols as seen in the portrait are not fully Anglicized indicating that Pocahantos was recognizably Native American. This explains why these symbols might be incomprehensible to a Native American audience. Her skin, hair and eye colors have been considerably lightened to make the transformation to English complete (Sheridan n.pag).
3. Given the technology of the day, why do you think Van de Passe might have chosen to make an engraving rather than, say, a painting or a sculpture of Pocahontas’s likeness?
Good paintings or sculptures are equally as imposing as engravings. However, engravings seem to express the ideal beauty of paintings. Van de Passe might have chosen to make an engraving rather than, say, a painting or a sculpture of Pocahontas’s likeness since he knew that galleries of the same engravings might be multiplied and even compressed into a book or an album or a portfolio. Moreover, engravings are prized as the most valuable productions of art, and therefore Van de Passe’s choice of making an engraving of Pocahontas other than sculpture or painting was a great idea. It explains why the engraving is still referred to today since its prints cannot be erased easily.
Work Cited
Sheridan, Stephanie. From the Collection: Pocahontas. Engraving. 2014. National Portrait Gallery, npg.si.edu/blog/collection-pocahontas. Accessed 27 Sept. 2018.