Vasco da Gama portrait by Charles Legrand

What it is

This is a black-and-white lithograph portrait of Gama, catalogued as a painting and dated to around 1841. It was made by Charles Legrand. It shows a bearded man in a flat dark cap and an ornate embroidered garment, with a large cross on the chest and puffed, quilted sleeves with tufted decorations. Faint signature and printer's text appear in the lower corners. The catalogue describes it as an imagined portrait made centuries after Gama's lifetime.

Why it matters

Nineteenth-century portraits like this one shaped how Europeans remembered the explorers of earlier centuries. The large cross and ornate costume express a view of Gama as a noble figure tied to Portugal's religious and royal history. Because the artist did not know the subject, the portrait tells us about Legrand's time and its tastes more than about Gama himself.

Look closer

• What details of clothing and decoration does the artist use to make the man look important?
• Who was Charles Legrand, and why might a 19th-century artist imagine a 16th-century explorer?
• What clues in the lower corners could help a historian find out when and how the print was made?