Theodor de Bry

Theodor de Bry
An engraved self-portrait of Theodorus de Bry. He is dressed in work costume, with a flange goffered on a collar of fur, one hand holding a compass while the other rests on a human skull, both signs of erudition at that time. The Latin words registered on the table are: "Domine, doce me ita reliquos vitae meae dies transigere ut in vera pietate vivam et moriar." ("Lord, teach me to pass the remaining days of my life such that I live and die in true piety.") Just below these words is the motto of the de Bry family: "Nul sans soucy." ("None without worry.")
Born	1528 Liège
Died	27 march 1598 Frankfurt
Known for	Engraving
Notable work	Collectiones peregrinatiorum in Indiam orientalem et Indiam occidentalem (1590–1633)

Theodorus de Bry (also Theodor de Bry) (1528 – 27 March 1598) was an engraver, goldsmith, editor and publisher, famous for his depictions of early European expeditions to the Americas. The Spanish Inquisition forced de Bry, a Protestant, to flee his native, Spanish-controlled Southern Netherlands. He moved around Europe, starting from the city of Liège in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (where he was born and grew up), then to Strasbourg, Antwerp, London and Frankfurt, where he settled.

De Bry created a large number of engraved illustrations for his books. Most of his books were based on first-hand observations by explorers, even if De Bry himself, acting as a recorder of information, never visited the Americas. To modern eyes, many of the illustrations seem formal but detailed.

Theodorus de Bry was born in 1528 in Liège, Prince-Bishopric of Liège, now in Belgium, to a family which had escaped the destruction of the city of Dinant in 1466 during the Liège Wars by the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good and his son Charles the Bold. As a man he trained under his grandfather, Thiry de Bry the Elder (? - 1528), and under his father, Thiry de Bry the Younger (1495–1590), who were jewellers and engravers, engraving copper plates. The art of copper plate engraving was the technology required at that time for printing images and drawings as part of books. In 1524 Thiry de Bry the Younger married Catherine le Blavier, daughter of Conrad le Blavier de Jemeppe. Their son, Theodore de Bry, also became a jeweller and engraver.