John White Pictish

John White was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to be Sir Richard Grenville's artist-illustrator, on Grenville's first voyage to the New World (1585-6). White was responsible for producing sketches of the landscape and any inhabitants they encountered. The images produced seem to be as much propaganda as fact—but that's nothing new. There's a lot to be learned by examining the imagery here.

White was encapsulated in history. Just like everyone else and all of us.

Eventually White became governor of the newly established Roanoke Colony and welcomed its first baby, his granddaughter, Virginia Dare. It is generally recognized that the colonists never fully accepted an artist as a governor. After leaving the colony to gather provisions from England, White returned in 1590 to a ghost town: No one was left in Roanoke and the colony was long abandoned. He relocated to Plymouth on October 24 of the same year—the same month and day this blog was established.

The images appearing on the sidebar of this blog are those among many, published by Thomas Harriot.

(So What's a Pict Anyway?)