Ann Bonny and Mary Read (Artwork)
Some depictions of my favourite pirates over the years.
(Also maybe some inspiration for anyone who's looking to put together a pirate-themed Halloween costume this time of year)
First, here's the most detailed surviving eyewitness description of them, from their trial record:
An illustration from an edition of A General History of the Pyrates. To my knowledge, this is the first illustration of them:
Another image of Bonny from an edition of A General History, this is probably the most iconic depiction of her:
You can find colourized versions of all these images online.
Bonny and Read from a famous set of old pirate-themed cigarette cards, the Met Museum website says they are from Allen & Ginter in 1888. The likenesses are presumably artists' invention, but the scenes are based on A General History:
Next, we have Bonny and Read from the game Assassins' Creed IV: Black Flag. This is pretty much the "conventional" depiction of them, with a conventionally sexy, more feminine red-haired Bonny, and a more masculine, brunette Read.
Bonny from the TV series "Black Sails:
Some more art of Bonny alone, by Steven Belledin. My personal favourite artwork of Bonny:
Controversial statue of Bonny and Read intended for Burgh Island, Devon (Source: BBC). This depiction is quite abstract:
Bonny (right) and Read (left) from the TV series "Our Flag Means Death." A rare modern depiction of brunette Bonny, but keeps with the convention of a more masculine Read and conventionally sexy, feminine Bonny:
Bonny and Read, from a thread on the r/pirates subreddit, by user Happy-Ad6967. Notable in that this is probably the best attempt I've seen of a realistic depiction, based on the original eyewitness descriptions.
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