Pocahontas

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After her death

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While in England, Simon Van de Passe engraved Pocahontas's portrait on a copper plate. This engraving is the only portrait of Pocahontas made during her lifetime. Despite being dressed in European clothing to signify her submission to European culture, her Native American features remain robust and the engraving suggests a strong personality. More than a century later, an unknown artist made an oil painting of Pocahontas based on the earlier engraving. Though she is dressed exactly the same, her non-white features are watered down, giving her skin a paler cast, her hair a lighter shade of brown, and her face a more European appearance. The stern look in her eyes from the earlier engraving is also relaxed, giving her a more gentle and tame appearance.

Related Topics:
Simon Van de Passe - White

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After the death of Pocahontas, the story of Smith's rescue by Pocahontas went public in his books New England Trials (1622) and The Generall Historie (1624), providing the ingredients for romantic inflation. By the 19th century, Pocahontas had become one of the most important icons of America, and the romantic literature surrounding her at the time depicted her as a Noble Savage who was Christian in behavior even before being baptized.

Related Topics:
1622 - 1624 - 19th century - Noble Savage

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With the Indian Removal Act underway and the preparation for colonists to move westward, taking the land and assimilating the Indians, the story of Pocahontas converting to Christianity and accepting European culture struck a chord among 19th century Americans as they battled with Natives who were defiantly resisting assimilation. To them, the success of Pocahontas's transformation validated the mission of the colonists. This can be seen in an 1840 painting by John Chapman called The Baptism of Pocahontas which was hung in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. A government pamphlet went into circulation entitled The Picture of the Baptism of Pocahontas explaining the characters in the painting and congratulating the Jamestown settlers for introducing Christianity to the "heathen savages", thus doing more than to just "exterminate the ancient proprietors of the soil, and usurp their possessions".

Related Topics:
Indian Removal Act - 1840 - John Chapman - United States Capitol

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Around this time, romantic stories about Pocahontas would often adapt her vague story to fit their own beliefs. Her marriage to Rolfe when it was Smith whom she rescued, did not seem right to some, and so at least one author, John R. Musick, retold the story to "clarify" the relationship between the three. In Musick's account, Rolfe is a back-stabbing liar who, seeing the opportunity to marry "royalty," tells Pocahontas that her true love, Smith, is dead. She then reluctantly agrees to marry Rolfe. After the two begin preparations to leave for England, Pocahontas encounters Smith, still alive. Overcome by emotion and recollections, she dies of a broken heart three days later.

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Like much of the 19th century poetry and novels surrounding Pocahontas, The Walt Disney Company's 1995 animated feature Pocahontas presents a highly romanticized and distorted view of the events surrounding Pocahontas' meeting with John Smith. The sequel, ', loosely depicts her journey to England. See Pocahontas (movie) for a list of films surrounding this story.

Related Topics:
The Walt Disney Company - 1995 - Pocahontas - Pocahontas (movie)

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The New World, a film by writer/director Terrence Malick starring Colin Farrell, is a live-action film version of the story scheduled to be released November 9, 2005.

Related Topics:
Terrence Malick - Colin Farrell - November 9 - 2005

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