Props and Costume

Abstract

I discuss the stereotypical sixteenth-century image of slaves in chains produced by Northern European artists in Spain. This traditional iconography has no resonance in topographic views and landscapes by Spanish artists. I focus on the ways that the View of Seville drawing (1573) by Joris Hoefnagel articulates the institutionalization of the local Spanish and transatlantic slave trades and I construct an account of the material culture of slavery based on archival sources and legal discussions. I also lay out Juan Fragoso’s set of recommendations for assessing the economic value of slaves at auction in his Universal Surgery. I address the ways in which the drawings of chained slaves (1529) by Christopher Weiditz represent the traditional iconography of Afro-Hispanic slave labourers and as symbolizing the black resistance forged in their confraternities against their subjugation. These forms of resistance are confirmed by Pedro de León’s experience at the royal prison of Seville.