A little known Christopher Columbus bit of trivia.
Maywood
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For the past 5-10 years I’ve been assembling a very modest collection of medals from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1892-93, held in Chicago. I proceeded slowly at first because it took me a while to find a copy of the book “Columbiana” by Nathan Eglit. That in itself speaks to the interest in the catalogued medals. Finding some of the scarce/rare types can be a challenge.
Having that book and searching along with owning over a dozen of the issues I noticed the variety of “depictions” of Columbus. From the catalogued items I'll bet there must be 200 different Christopher Columbus’ pictured!! Like the old TV Show, “Will the real Columbus please stand up.”
So I researched a little bit: as it turns out, no portrait of the Explorer is known to exist. All the paintings that purport to be him were painted after his death. I believe there may be one painted while he was still alive, done around 1498, but it can’t be confirmed. During the WCE there was an exhibit of perhaps 90-95 paintings, but all were dismissed as having been painted after he had died.
Historians look to three portraits which claim to be Columbus, best cases, but each can be ruled out for various reasons. So it raises an intriguing question: What did the man really look like??
I’m posting from my phone and will post images later, but if you have a coin/medal or even a portrait of Columbus please post it. I would ask to try and not post something that’s already pictured.
This could be fun and interesting. Thanks.
Maywood
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
Comments
All of my material is "the usual suspects."
Maywood.
Your thread is a fine example of why I enjoy participating in the forums. You just never know what information will appear in a forum thread.
This is a great place to expand one's knowledge base (which IMO is one of life's simple pleasures) by going broader (learning a new subject matter) and/or deeper (learning more about a subject matter you are familiar with)..
I look forward to reading replies to this thread.
Mr_Spud
Mr_Spud
Yes, I have understood that the portraits and statues we have admired are fabrications. I should dig out a photo of my wife’s late uncle Tony, he was born near Genoa, as good a guess as any for a likeness.
Just from these few coin/medal images thus far differences appear, some show a clean shaven CC and in others he has a beard/mustache.
This painting is supposed to be Columbus, but it was painted around 1519 and he died in 1506.
This is "the most accurate likeness" of Columbus, but it was painted in 1525.
This was painted around 1500, but the whereabouts of the painting at this time is unknown.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
And like all of us our appearance changes with age. I've met people I haven't seen in 30 years plus and wouldn't have recognized them other than it was a planned meeting.
Top image on the medal is Christopher Columbus, bottom is Hendrick Hudson. Quite similar even down to that bitchin' collar!!
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
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I've been wanting to buy one of these in a giant NGC holder that I always see at a certain dealers table. (The aluminum version)
They're incredibly good looking in person.
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"Every peace has its enemies, those who still prefer the easy habits of hatred to the hard labors of reconciliation."
The best contenders for what Columbus may have looked like.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
I think they were just making it up. After all, no one could prove them wrong. 😄
Those painters should have at least got the eye color right, brown or blue.
Seems like this could be a case of YVMV,Your view may vary.
Good stuff...
K
The paintings from around the time of his death and shortly afterwards were done by painters who knew Columbus or had a description from someone who knew him. I'd have to believe that there were paintings done with him sitting for the artist but they have probably all been lost/destroyed in the intervening years. Though history most recently hasn't judged his accomplishments kindly, what Columbus did more than 500 years ago was remarkable. As a blue water sailor/navigator he was quite bold.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
Alright, but the old joke goes
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His beliefs bordered heresy. He lived under the eyes of the Italian and Spanish inquisitions, and between the Spanish and Portuguese quarrels. The results of DNA testing last year connected him to the Sephardic Jews which was good reason to hide one’s origins in Iberia in the late 15th.
He wrote what he wrote in his logs to protect top-secret information and his life. He knew that he was not in The East Indies. Genoa claims Crisobal Colón , or Cristfaro Colombo, but so do the Balearic Islands, Valencia, and Galicia as well as the claim that he was the Portuguese, Fernandes Zarco —spying and misinforming the Spanish rulers for King John of Portugal. The name means “dove (messenger) of Christ”.
Giovani Caboto (John Cabot)—was a contemporary from Genoa. On his first voyages he knew that he was in new territory. Sailors passed information effectively and quickly. There is no proof of colaboration.
Forget the speculation, my point is that Columbus might have been easel-shy.
Edit: sp.
@Creg said: He wrote what he wrote in his logs to protect top-secret information and his life.
I read somewhere that Columbus kept two sets of logs, one Official for Queen Isabella and a private diary of his true thoughts on everything.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
Not a nice guy to say the least to the Indigenous people he encountered.
many historians say he enslaved/ tortured them for his greed of silver and gold.
In my eyes ranked same with terrible people like Leopold of Belgium,
and his treatment of the people of the Congo./1880's
This sounds like history being rewritten by those pushing a far-left political agenda. Can you provide proof or documentation for this claim?
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"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
@krueger said: Not a nice guy to say the least to the Indigenous people he encountered.
many historians say he enslaved/ tortured them for his greed of silver and gold.
In my eyes ranked same with terrible people like Leopold of Belgium,
and his treatment of the people of the Congo./1880's
Perhaps that is true, but then what separates those mentioned from the generations of American Colonists and Citizens that enslaved generations of Africans?? As is always the case at this forum, any time Columbus is the subject of a thread some member comes along with the same tired rant. Can't we just accept that things were quite a bit different 400-500 years ago and leave it that to just discuss the relevant topic??
We were discussing the existence of a painting of Columbus done while he was alive, is that too challenging??
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
One lesser known fact is that the Santa Maria, the flagship was lost while Columbus was in the western hemisphere. They let an underling steer the ship one evening, and he ran it aground.
@JCH22, can you provide an image of the picture described in the letter??
At the Worlds Columbian International Exposition there were close to 100 portraits presented which purported to be of Christopher Columbus and the art experts who were evaluating them rejected all as being painted after his death. As your letter states, the picture was done by someone who claimed to have known Columbus but there are several others in this thread which make that same claim.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
@PerryHall. I will play Gilligan here. Columbus was guilty of a what we today would call a thousand different crimes against humanity. Today also, every person who wants to play judge should consider how they would have played "real" survivor in a system based on greed and naked power where almost every person who held some position of authority akso ended up going home in chains because of back stabbing and treachery. James
Do not both letters refer to the portrait in the post by @WiscKau?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
I still like the cool 17th century version with a van dyke.
I should have provided some context! Attached the letter just to show how it was the Lotto portrait was selected for the half in the first instance. Was not meant to say that Lotto’s portrait represents what in fact Columbus truly looked like, or to take a position in the "portrait wars."
You are correct that others choose different portraits, some even avoided the issue altogether through symbolic representations.
@Creg --believe they do. Apparently the plaster was not sufficient, and a request for pic of the portrait was made just under 10 days later.