Pompe & magnificence du Roi Congo en donnant audience aux Etrangers

"Pomp and Splendor of the King of the Congo When he Gives an Audience to Foreigners" (caption translation). This engraving depicts a large procession before a king. The original source for this illustration is not given, but it is ultimately derived from Johan Theodore De Bry (1561–1623) and Johan Israel De Bry (1565–1609), who were Flemish brothers, engravers and publishers. They never traveled to Africa and constructed their imagined illustrations from eyewitness accounts of Pieter de Marees of the Voltaic region in 1602 and Duarte Lopez of the Kongo kingdom in the Kwanza North region in 1578. For an extended discussion of the De Brys' imagined illustrations of Africa and their sources see Ernst van den Boogaart, "De Brys' Africa," in Susanna Burghartz, (ed.), Inszenierte Welten: Die west-und ostindischen reisen der verleger de Bry, 1590-1630 (Basel: Schwabe, 2004), p. 95-149. See image reference LCP-47 for a discussion.