Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting16th century

Tournai tapestry: Vasco da Gama's arrival at Calicut

16th century

A sixteenth-century Tournai tapestry showing Vasco da Gama's arrival at Calicut, now in Lisbon. It is a later artistic depiction of the voyage.

A sixteenth-century tapestry picturing da Gama's arrival at Calicut, showing how his arrival was imagined long after it happened.

Ask Vasco da Gama about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Detail of a richly colored woven tapestry showing a crowded naval scene: multiple ships with sails and rigging on water, with armored and robed figures on the ships and on a shore with a tower at left. The image is a horizontal banner crop.
Tournai tapestry showing Vasco da Gama's arrival at Calicut, 16th century. Caixa Geral de Depositos Museum, Lisbon.

About this source

What it is

This is a Renaissance tapestry made in Tournai, showing Vasco da Gama's arrival at Calicut. The record dates it to the 16th century. It now hangs in the Caixa Geral de Depositos Museum in Lisbon. The image shows a crowded naval scene: several ships with sails and rigging on water, with armored and robed figures on the ships and on a shore with a tower at left. The same image was used on the reverse of the 5000 Escudos banknotes.

Why it matters

The tapestry shows how da Gama's arrival in India was pictured in the 16th century, long after the event. Its use on banknotes shows that the image later became part of Portugal's national memory. It is an artistic depiction rather than an eyewitness record, so it reveals how makers and audiences imagined the voyage.

Look closer

  • How do the ships, figures and tower help the viewer understand the arrival?
  • Why might a tapestry maker in Tournai have chosen this subject?
  • What might this picture leave out about the people of Calicut and how they saw the visit?

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

More Vasco da Gama sources

Meet the AI Vasco da Gama →
Painting of an elderly bearded man with white beard and dark beret, wearing a dark robe with brown fur collar and a red cross pendant. He holds a pair of spectacles and a folded handwritten letter against a dark green background.Painting

Secondary source

Portrait of Vasco da Gama

Anonymous · c. 1525

Painted portrait of a bearded man in a black cloak and black hat, holding a staff in his left hand and a sword hilt at his waist. Behind him is a shield with red and white stripes and a Portuguese coat of arms. The gold-colored inscription at top reads Dovasço da Gama Visoreie Comde.Painting

Secondary source

Vasco da Gama, Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu

Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu (compiler unknown) · c. 1565

A black line-drawn autograph signature on white background, with a stylized flourish above and an underline stroke beneath, running across the image from left to right.Document

Secondary source

Signature of Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama

A tall tapering white stone pillar topped with a stone cross stands on a raised circular platform by the sea. Two people sit on a low wall at left, and others sit near the right side under a partly cloudy blue sky.Artifact

Primary source

Vasco da Gama Pillar

1498 or 1499

Hand-painted portolan-style world map on parchment showing the Atlantic, Africa, and parts of Asia and the Americas, with compass roses, rhumb lines, colored flags, and Latin and Portuguese place labels.Document

Primary source

Cantino Planisphere

Anonymous Portuguese cartographer · 1502

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Vasco da Gama now.

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

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions