218 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



The collection was necessarily incomplete and unsymmetrical. It con 

 tained only suck articles as bad been made ready in July, 1892, for an 

 Exposition that was to open in May, 1893; but it was sufficient to con 

 vey an adequate idea of the broad plan of which it was a part, and to 

 indicate the purpose it was designed to accomplish. It was installed 

 under my direction in two large and well-lighted rooms on the main 

 floor at the right of the main entrance to the Bibliotheca National, the 

 handsome and permanent building occupied by the Exposition. The 

 rooms opened upon the principal patio of the building, which was beau 

 tifully embellished by plants and flowers. 



Her Majesty the Queen Regent graciously asked a private view of 

 the exhibit before the public opening of the Exposition, and made sev 

 eral appropriate suggestions as to its rearrangement, which were 

 adopted. 



The Iconografia Coloinbina, as it was designated in the official cata 

 logue, was divided into four parts, as follows: 



I. The portraits of Columbus and his descendants, and the monu 

 ments erected in his honor. 



II. Places identified with the life history of Columbus. 



III. Pictures illustrative of the manner in which America received 

 its name. 



IV. Remains of Spanish occupation in the United States. 



THE PORTRAITS OF COLUMBUS. 



The portraits of Columbus, which were 77 in number, included the 

 originals or copies of all that had been painted or published of any his 

 torical interest or artistic value up to the 1st of January, 189U. It was 

 the first time any attempt had been made to assemble the various types 

 and ideals, although partial and incomplete collections exist in several 

 of the European and American libraries and galleries. In securing 

 these pictures I received valuable assistance from Lieut. W. McCarty 

 Little, United States Navy; Frank H. Mason, United States consul- 

 general at Frankfort-on-the-Maiu; Henry Viguaud, secretary of lega 

 tion, Paris; Remsen Whitebouse, secretary of legation, Rome; Col. F. 

 D. Grant, United States minister, Vienna; B. F. Stevens, United States 

 dispatch agent, London; Mr. Howell, the librarian of the British 

 Museum; Hayden Edwards, United States consul-general, Berlin; 

 Cav. (iuiseppi Baldi, and James Fletcher, United States consul, Genoa; 

 Nestor Ponce de Leon and Benjamin Betts, New York; Edward M. 

 Barton, Worcester, Mass. ; Prof. Halsey C. Ives, St. Louis, and from 

 Jami S W. Ellsworth, of Chicago, who generously furnished the funds 

 to purchase the Lotto portrait, which was too valuable to be paid for 

 from the slender appropriation allowed for the work. I am also under 

 obligations to the Eastman Company, of Rochester, N. Y., for the 

 excellence of the mechanical enlargements tbat were made at their 

 establishment. 



