Print

Description

This engraving was designed and executed by Sébastien Leclerc (1637-1714), ordinary engraver to King Louis XIV of France, from the "Histoire générale des Antilles habitées par les Français" from 1667-71 by Jean-Baptiste du Tertre (1610-1687), a missionary priest of the Ordre des Frères prêcheurs (Dominican order). From his eighteen years spent in the Caribbean, du Tertre recorded what he called an “eyewitness” account of the French colonial habitations on the Isles of St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Guadeloupe, Martinique, and others. Along with its companion "MENAGERIE" (2024.0011.002), the print describes enslaved African laborers imported by the French for the heavy labor production of sugar refinery and other crops such as tobacco and cassava.