Engraving of Canadian Aboriginal funeral by Picart (1723-43)

$65.00 CAD

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Interesting print showing funeral rituals by Canadian Aboriginals in 18th century Canada.

Print title:

'REJOUISSANCES des PEUPLE du CANADA, pendant que l'on porte le DEFUNT, à la cabane des MORTS'
 
'Celebrations of the peoples of Canada while the body of the deceased is carried to the cabin of the Dead.'
 

From the book 'Histoire Générale des Ceremonies, Moeurs, et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde' written by Abbott Banier 1741 Paris, engravings by Bernard Picart .

This print is the upper half of a page with two images.

Print glued to cardboard backing.

Very good condition, some wear and light smudging. Small tears to cardboard not affecting image.

Print:  16 x 21.5 cm    Backing: 21 x 25.5 cm

 

Bernard Picart (11 June 1673 – 8 May 1733), was a French engraver, son of Etienne Picart, also an engraver. He was born in Paris and died in Amsterdam. He moved to Antwerp in 1696, and then spent a year in Amsterdam before returning to France at the end of 1698. After his wife died in 1708, he moved to Amsterdam in 1711 (later being joined by his father), where he became a Protestant convert and married again. 

Most of his work was book-illustrations, including the Bible and Ovid. His most famous work is Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde, appearing from 1723 to 1743. Jonathan I. Israel calls Cérémonies "an immense effort to record the religious rituals and beliefs of the world in all their diversity as objectively and authentically as possible". Although Picart had never left Europe, he relied on accounts by those who had and had access to a collection of Indian sculpture.[1] The original French edition of Cérémonies comprises ten volumes of text and engravings. Israel notes also that Picart left Paris with Prosper Marchand, and collaborated on the Cérémonies with Jean-Frédéric Bernard, with a commitment to religious toleration. Picart, Marchand and Charles Levier belonged to a "radical Huguenot coterie".

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