#mayflower

Mayflower

This is actually for a sculpture, but I decided to give it some lineart and then I decided to give it edgy backgrounds and then bada boom, I still start working on the sculpture tmr tho

Like, they didn't dress or look much like the pious 19th century fantasy above, and they certainly didn't like the pop culture images that have proliferated since the 19th century.

See, the thing is, the Pilgrims embarked to America from the 17th century Netherlands.

And what was the 17th century Netherlands famous for?

Art!

Artists. Galleries. Dealers. Paintings and painters galore.

Artists then as now liked to look at stuff around them and paint what they see. And in the 17th century Netherlands they liked to paint the newly popular genre scenes, like people eating dinner or sweeping their courtyards… or embarking on a voyage.

That's where the Pilgrims come in. In 1620 one Adam Willaerts, Flemish artist, painted this, "The Departure of the Pilgrim Fathers from Delfshaven on their Way to America."

Current events!

And these are the Pilgrims. These guys!

Notice the bright colors, the gaily feathered hats, the delicate little strap shoes.

The short skirts!

Honestly, this painting makes Pilgrim dress-up look WAY more fun than the stereotyped funereal black and white beloved of the Victorians.

Shout out especially to this lady. She would fit right in at a modern Renaissance Faire and you would never guess she was a Pilgrim.

Aɳɠҽʅ, ᵢ'd ₕₒₗd yₒᵤ dₒwₙ

˙ॱᐧ.˳˳. ᭄᭡ ‎Forsake me here on the ground