Español: Retrato de Fernando de Magallanes English: Ferdinand Magellan ( ) |
Artist | Unknown authorUnknown author |
Title | Español: Retrato de Fernando de Magallanes English: Ferdinand Magellan |
Object type | painting object_type QS:P31,Q3305213 |
Description | Half-length portrait of a bearded Ferdinand Magellan (circa 1480-1521) facing front. |
Date | circa 1550-1625 |
Medium | oil on canvas medium QS:P186,Q296955;P186,Q12321255,P518,Q861259 |
Dimensions | height: 62.2 cm (24.4 in); width: 50.8 cm (20 in) dimensions QS:P2048,62.2U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,50.8U174728 |
Collection | The Mariner's Museum Collection, Newport News, VA |
Accession number | 1949.0619.000001 |
Object history | Originally purchased by Mr. Armour Smith, Curator of the Yonkers Museum, around 1932 from an American dentist who had been the official dentist (for a number of years) to the Queen of Holland. A letter from Armour Smith dated April 18, 1947 reads: "During his stay in Holland the dentist had formed a valuable collection of antique material. After his retirement he returned to this country to live. It did not take him long to learn that his income was not sufficient to permit him to live here in the manner he had enjoyed in Holland. He and his wife decided to return to that country. I was called into the warehouse where his collections were stored in many cases. I spent two days there and purchased a number of valuable items--including the Magellan. Unfortunately, I do not recall the Dentist's name". |
Inscriptions | FERDINAN MAGELLANVS.SVPERATIS, ANTARCTICI FRETI ANGVSTIIS CLARISS. The inscription was translated by the editorial staff of the National Geographic Society with the help of several translators and a latin scholar to read: "Ferdinand Magellan is most famous for having conquered the difficulties of the Antarctic Strait." |
Notes | The portrait of Magellan was examined by conservator Sheldon Keck of The Brooklyn Museum by radiography, microscopy and ultra-violet light. He stated in a letter dated May 14, 1947 to Harry Stone that "no technical evidence was revealed to indicate that it [the painting] was not of the late 16th century or early 17th centuries. It is my opinion that the painting is of this period". In a letter dated May 26, 1948 dealer Harry Stone indicated that he has shown the portrait to "a number of men qualified to judge the age, and they have definitely the reported that the portrait was painted during the 16th century". On February 12, 1979 Mr. Richard Wonder from Christie's New York time visited the Museum and he indicated that he thought the Magellan portrait might be a copy of an extant portrait and not done from life, but he did not express any opinion of the probably age of the paints In 1981 curator John Sands spotted a similar portrait in the Torre del Oro maritime museum in Seville, Spain. He also saw a replica painting in the Marine Museum at Lisbon. He contacted the Museo Naval in Madrid after his return and received a photograph of the portrait in the Torre del Oro. The portrait is remarkably similar to our painting. In 1982 Mr. Russel Burke of Phillip, Son, and Neale, Inc. looked at the portrait and considered it "of the period, o.k.". |
Source/Photographer | The Mariner's Museum Collection |
Permission (Reusing this file) | This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse | https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that " faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain". This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. | |