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The Four Indian Kings
Bernard Lens III1710
Albany Institute of History & Art
Albany, United States
Details
- Title: The Four Indian Kings
- Creator: Bernard Lens the younger, (1682-1740)
- Creator Lifespan: 1659 - 1725
- Creator Gender: Male
- Date: 1710
- Location: United States
- Physical Dimensions: w9.88 x h13.50 in (Complete)
- Type: Print
- Rights: Gift of the estate of Cornelia Cogswell (Mrs. Henry M.) Sage
- External Link: http://www.albanyinstitute.org/home.html
- Medium: Mezzotint on paper
- Inscription: Printed lower center margin: The Four Indian Kings; lower left margin: Done after the Original Limnings / Drawn from ye Life by B.Lens junr.; lower right margin: B. Lens; under each portrait, from left to right, top to bottom; Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row. / Emperour of the Six Nations.; Sa Ga Yean Qua Rah Tow / King of the Maquas; Oh Nee Yeath Tow Na Riow / King of Ganajoh-Hore.; E Tow Oh Kaom; King of the River Nation.
- Engraver: Bernand Lens (the elder)
- Additional Comments: A political and ceremonial visit of four Native Americans to England in 1710 is commemorated here. The "kings"(really elected sachems, or civil chiefs, of the Iroquois confederacy) sailed with three colonial leaders to convince the British that military support was needed if Britain wanted to secure colonial expansion. Native Americans were such novel curiosities in Europe that their likenesses were taken by Bernard Lens, Sr. and Jr. The younger Lens painted miniature portraits of the four, from life, on ivory. His father used the miniatures as models for his engraving, from which prints were produced. The many impressions made from the Lens's mezzotints kept the Native Americans' fame alive in Europe and after their return to America.
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