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Secondary sourcePaintingcirca 1929

Vasco da Gama Burning the Ship Mirim

Tancredi Scarpelli · circa 1929

A later painting by Tancredi Scarpelli showing Vasco da Gama's 1502 attack on an Arab ship, the Mirim. It shows how later artists portrayed the voyages of exploration.

Shows Vasco da Gama in a later painted version of his violent 1502 attack on an Arab ship, so it reflects how his voyages were remembered.

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Painted illustration of a naval scene: a man in a blue and white striped costume with a red plumed hat fires a long musket from a ship's deck. Behind him, a large ship is engulfed in flames and smoke, with men in the water. Another man in an orange sleeveless shirt and a red-caped figure in armor watch from the foreground. Other ships are visible on the horizon. Signature in lower right corner.
Tancredi Scarpelli, Vasco de Gama burning the Arabic ship Mirim, c. 1929. Wikimedia Commons.

About this source

What it is

This is a painting by Tancredi Scarpelli, dated to about 1929. It shows a naval scene in which a man in a striped costume and red plumed hat fires a musket from a ship's deck. Behind him a large ship burns, and men are in the water. The image is titled as Vasco da Gama burning the Arabic ship Mirim on 3 October 1502. The painting is a later work, not a record made at the time of the events.

Why it matters

Da Gama's 1502 voyage is often remembered for violence against ships and crews in the Indian Ocean. A painting made about 1929 shows how that episode was pictured long after it happened. The artist was not a witness, so the image reflects the time in which it was made as much as the events themselves.

Look closer

  • What does the painter show as the most important action in the scene, and what is left in the background?
  • Who is shown as the attacker, and how are the people in the water presented?
  • Why might a painter in 1929 choose to show this moment, and what does the picture leave out?

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.

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Signature of Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama

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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

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Cantino Planisphere

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