Existing comment:
Sir Walter Raleigh, c 1552-1618
British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh is remembered in American history for the English colony he attempted to establish on Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina in 1584, a venture that earned him a knighthood.After his initial expedition returned to England, Raleigh sent a second colony to Roanoke in 1587. The disappearance of this colony between 1587 and 1590 remains one of the great mysteries of American colonial history.
This portrait was circulated on its own and then printed on the title page of several editions of Raleigh's immensely popular book The Historie of the World. Formerly a court favorite, Raleigh wrote his book-which details time from the Creation through the second century BC-during his imprisonment in the Tower of London. The print, which first appeared in a 1617 edition, was the only engraving of him published in his lifetime.
Simon Von de Passe, c 1616 |