Sep 17, 2009 - Sale 2186

Sale 2186 - Lot 289

Price Realized: $ 1,920
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
THE FIRST PUBLISHED PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS (COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER.) Jovius, Paulus. Leaf from Elogia Virorum Bellica Virtute Illustrium featuring a portrait of Columbus. Pages 191-192. 13 x 8 inches, engraving with printed text recto and verso, marginal edge wear and staining not affecting image; inked owners' stamps on verso. [Basel, 1575]
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Additional Details

This engraving by Tobias Stimmer was copied from a portrait of Columbus in the collection of Paulus Jovius. Whether or not any authentic Columbus portrait has ever existed remains controversial, but the now-lost Jovius portrait was the earliest known, and this Stimmer engraving was the first representation of Columbus in print. It remains the basis for many images of the explorer today. See Néstor Ponce de León, The Columbus Gallery (New York, 1893), page 4; Thacher, Columbus (New York, 1904), pages 11-15.