Object Details
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
Description
Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid. The current location of the painting is unknown, but the choice of topic anticipates Gerome’s future as a history painter, focusing on American narrative subjects.
After death, Christopher Columbus’s journeys were not over. His remains traveled from Vallodolid to Seville and in 1542 were taken to the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, colonized by Columbus after 1492. After a move to Havana, Cuba, they returned to Seville cathedral in 1898 where they are today.
The etching was printed on chine-collé, a very thin sheet of paper that accepts the image in passing through the press with a heavier sheet of backing paper to which is it glued during the printing.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Date made
1879
ID Number
GA.14450
accession number
94830
catalog number
14450
Object Name
print
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
ink (overall material)
Measurements
image: 14.5 cm x 11 cm; 5 11/16 in x 4 5/16 in
overall: 15 cm x 13.5 cm; 5 7/8 in x 5 5/16 in
support: 28 cm x 21.5 cm; 11 in x 8 7/16 in
Place Made
United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
See more items in
Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
Ferris Collection
Communications
Art
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1001844