240 



COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



Shortly after this date Americus was appointed as a sort of general agent of the 

 Spanish Government, at a salary of 30,000 maravedi, about $2,000 a year, to superin 

 tend the fitting out of expeditions to the Indies and the north coast of South America. 



]S T 0. 67. THE LAWSO^ST PICTUKE. 



Mr. Eobert Lawsou, of Baltimore, Md v has a portrait of Columbus which he 

 bought at an auction in 1851-52, where a number of other old paintings of a similar 

 type were sold. Its age and author are unknown. 



Xo. 68. THE XOYAK PICTURE. 



Aii old portrait of Columbus owned by Mr. Ernest Novak, of New York City, which 

 belonged to the collection of a certain antiquarian in Seville, and at his death passed 



into other hands. The canvas is very old, and 

 an attempt to bring out the colors only made 



AM ERIC A sivi-l NOVV OR ws the picture worse. 



Xo. 69. THE ERSKINE PICTURE. 



Aii old portrait of Columbus, by Gentile Bel 

 lini (1421-1507), owned by Mr. Charles Erskine, 

 of Roxbury, Mass. It is said to have been 

 brought from England by Governor Benning 

 Wentworth, of New Hampshire. 



In addition to the portraits of Colum 

 bus there was an interesting collection 

 of portraits of his descendants, so far 

 as they could be obtained. The pictures 

 of the earlier members of his family, 

 his brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, 

 and Diego and Ferdinand, his sons, and 

 that of Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, the 

 mother of Fernando Columbus, with 

 whom he lived while at Cordova, were 

 without doubt purely fanciful, but the 

 authenticity of those of the later members of the Colon family was well 

 established. 



There were a number of facsimiles of autographs of Columbus, 

 notably of the letters written by him to Xicolo Oderigo, the Genoese 

 ambassador to Spain at the time of his return from his first voyage, 

 and to the Bank of St. George. Here, too, were photographs of votive 

 offerings which Columbus is said to have placed at the shrine of the 

 Holy Virgin at Siena, Italy, upon his return from his first voyage, 

 in obedience to a vow made by him during a terrible storm at sea. 





Xo. 66. 



PORTKAIT FROM DE BRY S VOYAGES. 

 See No. 43. 



THE MONUMENTS OF COLUMBUS. 



Associated with the portraits of Columbus were a series of models, 

 photographs, and engravings of the monuments and statues that have 

 been erected in his honor in various parts of the world, seventy-two in 

 number, and the collection is believed to have been complete. 



