Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting1791

Portrait of Vasco Núñez de Balboa with Biography

1791

An engraved portrait of Balboa made over 250 years after his death, paired with a short Spanish-language biography, from a 1791 book of illustrious Spaniards.

An imagined portrait of Balboa made centuries after his death, showing how later Spaniards memorialized him.

Ask Vasco Nunez de Balboa about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Full text (Wikisource)

About this source

What it is

This is a printed portrait of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, created in 1791 as part of a Spanish book called Retratos de Españoles Ilustres (Portraits of Illustrious Spaniards). It includes a short written biography explaining Balboa's role as discoverer of the Pacific (called the Mar del Sur, or South Sea).

Why it matters

Because Balboa died over two and a half centuries before this print was made, the image is not based on any real likeness of him — no portraits were made during his lifetime. It shows how later generations of Spaniards imagined and honored their early explorers, shaping the historical memory of figures like Balboa.

Look closer

  • Since no real portrait of Balboa survives, where might the artist have gotten ideas for how to depict him?
  • Why might 18th-century Spain want to celebrate explorers who lived centuries earlier?
  • How does the biography's language and tone shape how we see Balboa's accomplishments?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Vasco Nunez de Balboa on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Vasco Nunez de Balboa sources

Meet the AI Vasco Nunez de Balboa →
Black ink line drawing of a handwritten signature on white background. Two large looping flourishes with long tails are joined by a smaller cursive script inscription in the center.Document

Primary source

Signature of Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Illustrated title page of Peter Martyr's 'De orbe novo decades', printed in Alcalá 1530. Central printed text in a cream panel, framed by woodcut borders with scenes of figures, animals, and architecture.Book

Secondary source

Decades of the New World

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera · 1530 (complete edition)

Open book in a display case showing two pages of old printed text in French with decorative woodcut initials and an illustration of a cactus-like plant. A label to the right reads partially 'Chron... Amer... Gonzalo Valdés... L'histoire... Printed... Paris... Purchased... Oviedo...'Book

Secondary source

Historia general y natural de las Indias

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés · 1556 (French edition); original work 16th century

Title page of the Suma de Geographia in black-and-white woodcut style, with an ornate decorative border, a woodcut of an armillary sphere held by two hands, and the printed title text below.Book

Primary source

Suma de Geographia

Martín Fernández de Enciso · 1519

Black and white engraving of armored European men with pikes and helmets standing in a row at left and center, while dogs attack several nude figures lying on the ground in the foreground. Some figures appear wounded or dead.Painting

Secondary source

Balboamurder

Theodor de Bry · 1594

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Vasco Nunez de Balboa now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions