White might

Verelst painted his subjects as comely dignitaries and diplomats, each with different physiognomies and tattoo markings. Only in one sense are they standardized. The men are posed after the fashion that early modern European artists employed for elite males from their own continent, with one arrogant arm akimbo, one leg extended and with tokens displaying their rank. Thus the Emperor of the Six Nations is painted accompanied by a wolf, which serves as the equivalent of his heraldic beast, and with a wampum belt, a sign of communication and statecraft. In reality, only one of these men seems to have possessed real claims to be a sachem, a chief. The British were seeking to make use of the Iroquois. But there was a sense in which these young men on the make were also using their British hosts. Moreover, just as Raleigh's attempts to found "Virginia" in the 1580s failed, so London's plans in 1710 to invade French Canada proved a total disaster. This is perhaps the final, piquant challenge posed by these exhibitions. The Native American images on show are records not simply of English and British imperial power. They are, rather, relics of some of the many setbacks and failures that this empire experienced, especially in its early stages. In regard to these particular paintings, it is not only the natives who will know defeat.