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Secondary sourcePaintingcirca 1913

Vasco da Gama engraved portrait

Scribner's Sons · circa 1913

A black-and-white engraved portrait of Vasco da Gama from a reference volume published around 1913, based on a later imagined likeness.

Presents Gama as a later imagined figure in a reference volume, showing how his image was constructed long after his lifetime.

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Black-and-white engraved portrait of a bearded man in a tall, brimmed hat with a small knob on top, wearing a cloak with a Cross of the Order of Christ on the chest. Background is finely hatched lines.
Scribner's Sons, Vasco da Gama, engraved portrait, circa 1913. Reference volume illustration.

About this source

What it is

This is an engraved portrait from an early-20th-century reference volume published by Scribner's Sons. It shows a bearded man in a tall, brimmed hat with a small knob on top, wearing a cloak with the Cross of the Order of Christ on his chest, against a background of fine hatched lines. The catalogue notes describe it as a later imagined likeness, not a portrait made from life.

Why it matters

Portraits like this one shaped how readers in the early 1900s imagined famous navigators. The cross on the cloak points to the Order of Christ, a Portuguese religious order, and reminds students that Gama's voyages were tied to Portugal's religious and political ambitions. The image shows what its makers believed a Portuguese explorer should look like, not how he actually looked.

Look closer

  • What clothing and symbols does the artist use to signal who this man was?
  • Why might a reference book in about 1913 choose an imagined portrait rather than a contemporary one?
  • What does the portrait leave out about Gama's voyages and the people they affected?

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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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

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Vasco da Gama, Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu

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

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Signature of Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama

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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

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Cantino Planisphere

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