2-704-417 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Captif Sacrifié par les Antis', 1723. Captive sacrificed by the Antis. Gruesome scene in the Americas, showing a man tied to a post being flayed and bled with knives. From "Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde", (Religious Ceremonies and Customs of All the Peoples of the World), by Jean-Frédéric Bernard, illustrated by Bernard Picart. Although Picart never left Europe, he relied on accounts by those who had. The book 'marked a major turning point in European attitudes toward religious belief and hence the sacred'. [Amsterdam, 1723-1737]