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Secondary sourcePainting1800

Vasco da Gama (stipple engraving by C. Turner)

C. Turner · 1800

A stipple portrait of Gama engraved by C. Turner in 1800, a later imagined likeness of the explorer.

Shows Gama as an engraver in 1800 imagined him, dressed in armour and a cloak to suggest his rank as an explorer.

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Stipple engraving of a bearded man in a dark cloak with pearl trim, a flat black cap, and layered armour at the chest and waist. He holds a baton and rests his hand on a draped table with a helmet bearing a plume. Caption below reads Vasco de Gama.
C. Turner, Vasco da Gama, stipple engraving, 1800.

About this source

What it is

This is a stipple engraving made by C. Turner in 1800. It shows a bearded man in a dark cloak with pearl trim, a flat black cap and layered armour at the chest and waist. He holds a baton and rests his hand on a draped table beside a helmet with a plume. The caption below reads Vasco de Gama.

Why it matters

Gama sailed from Portugal to India in 1497 and 1498, opening a sea route that changed trade between Europe and Asia. Engravings like this one were made long after his lifetime and helped fix an image of him for readers in later centuries. Because the artist worked more than two hundred years after Gama's death, the likeness reflects the tastes and ideas of 1800 as much as the sixteenth century.

Look closer

  • Which objects around Gama, such as the baton, helmet and table, suggest the rank or role the artist wanted to show?
  • Why might an engraver in 1800 choose armour and a cloak with pearl trim for an explorer?
  • What does this portrait not tell us about what Gama actually looked like?

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

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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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