Vasco da Gama (Armand-Dumaresq portrait)

What it is

This portrait, made around 1882 by Charles-Édouard Armand-Dumaresq, shows a bearded older man in a dark cap and a fur-trimmed dark robe with a cross emblem on the chest. He holds a folded paper with handwriting. The artist painted it after Gama had died, so it shows the painter's idea of the explorer rather than a record made from life.

Why it matters

Portraits like this shaped how later generations of students, readers and citizens understood Gama. The cross on the robe points to the Portuguese Christian world he served, and the handwritten paper suggests his role as a navigator and writer of voyages. The painting tells us as much about the nineteenth century, when explorers were often shown as national heroes, as about the sixteenth.

Look closer

• What details, such as the cap, robe and cross, does the artist use to make Gama look important?
• What is written on the paper he holds, and why might the artist have included it?
• Since the artist never met Gama, what sources might he have used to imagine the face?