Bodmer_Publication

Heinrich Rudolf Schinz (1777 – 1861),
Professor für Naturgeschichte an der
Universität Zürich und Leiter der
zoologischen Sammlung der Zürcher
Naturforschenden Gesellschaft.
Lithographie von R. Rey aus:
Natur forschende Gesellschaft Zürich
1863, Frontispiz
Heinrich Rudolf Schinz (1777 – 1861),
professor for natural history at the
University of Zurich and director of
the zoological collection of the
Natur forschende Gesellschaft Zurich.
Lithograph by R. Rey, from Naturforschende
Gesellschaft Zurich,
1863, frontispiece.
Prince Maximilian wanted top quality reproductions of Bodmer’s watercolors
and therefore chose to use the best, and thus most elaborate and expensive, print
technology available at the time: aquatint. This intaglio technique (using a copper
or steel plate) allows for a very fine variation of grey tones in the black-and-white
prints, which lithographic techniques could not provide. For aquatint color reproductions
the plate was primed with two or three ground colors (usually a light
brown in the forefront and a light blue for the background); this allowed for much
finer shadings in the colorization which was added later by hand. 2
The production of the printing plates and the elaborate colorization of the
prints cost the Prince a fortune, but at least he had the assurance that he had produced
a travel journal as the world had yet to see. In its genre, the work remains
unrivaled to this day and, consequently, sells at top prices at book auctions.
In Prince Maximilian’s era not many works containing illustrations of North
American Indians existed, and they are quick to list. After 1590, that is, in the early
days of contact, representations of Indians from the east coast were dominated by
the etchings in Theodor de Bry’s works, which were based on original sketches
by John White and Jaques le Moyne. 3 There are pictures of Native Americans from
the Eastern Woodlands in various travel journals, but in most cases these can hardly
be called authentic illustrations. Even James Otto Lewis’ attempt to furnish his
Aboriginal Portfolio with authentic portraits of Indians must be described as a failure.
His lithographs look more like caricatures and, to this day, they have not been
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