Christopher Columbus Dying

Description:

Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid. The current location of the painting is unknown, but the choice of topic anticipates Gerome’s future as a history painter, focusing on American narrative subjects.

After death, Christopher Columbus’s journeys were not over. His remains traveled from Vallodolid to Seville and in 1542 were taken to the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, colonized by Columbus after 1492. After a move to Havana, Cuba, they returned to Seville cathedral in 1898 where they are today.

The etching was printed on chine-collé, a very thin sheet of paper that accepts the image in passing through the press with a heavier sheet of backing paper to which is it glued during the printing.

Date Made: 1879

Graphic Artist: Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

See more items in: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts, Ferris Collection, Communications, Art

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: GA.14450Accession Number: 94830Catalog Number: 14450

Object Name: print

Physical Description: paper (overall material)ink (overall material)Measurements: image: 14.5 cm x 11 cm; 5 11/16 in x 4 5/16 inoverall: 15 cm x 13.5 cm; 5 7/8 in x 5 5/16 insupport: 28 cm x 21.5 cm; 11 in x 8 7/16 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-ae8b-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1001844

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