Vrouw gekleed in dierenhuiden 1562

François Desprez made this print of a woman dressed in animal skins sometime in the 16th century. It presents us with a set of ideas about civility, savagery, and the boundaries between the human and animal worlds. Images such as this were produced in Europe at a time of increased encounters with indigenous peoples of the Americas, and other parts of the world. The image refers to a classical trope, the wild man or wild woman: figures from folklore, or symbols of people living outside the borders of European civilization. The text questions the idea of natural appearance versus the eye of the beholder. Are we looking at a ‘natural’ woman, or simply seeing her through the biased lens of our own cultural norms? The study of such images involves understanding the history of colonialism, and of early modern scientific literature, especially ethnography. In archives and libraries, tracing the circulation and meaning of this image involves analyzing it as evidence of cultural contact and the construction of identity.