Christopher Columbus leaving Genoa

Details

Lazzaro Tavarone (Genoa 1556-1641)
Christopher Columbus leaving Genoa
with inscription 'Laz. Tavarone'
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, on greenish-grey paper, squared in black chalk
8 x 13½ in. (20.4 x 34.1 cm.)

Provenance

K.E. Hasse (L. 860).
with C.G. Boerner, Dusseldorf, 10 May 1930.
Anonymous sale; Karl und Faber, Munich, 6 November 1963, lot 310.
H. List (L. 4063).
Ratjen Foundation, Vaduz.
with Katrin Bellinger, London and Munich, 2005, when acquired by the present owner.

Literature

M. Newcome, Le dessin à Gènes du XVe siècle, exh. cat., Paris, Louvre, 1985, p. 31, under no. 20.

Exhibited

Binghampton, State University of New York and Worcester, Worcester Art Museum, Genoese Baroque drawings, 1972, exh. cat. by Mary Newcome, no. 11.
Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung and elsewhere, Stiftung Ratjen, Italienische Zeichnungen des 16.-18. Jahrhunderts, 1977-78, no. 55.

Brought to you by

Jennifer Wright

jwright@christies.com +1 212 636 2384

Lot Essay

Tavarone made several compositions of embarkations and Christopher Columbus's voyage, including frescoes in the Palazzo Bombrini and Palazzo Belimbau which he painted circa 1614. Tavarone also made designs based on the story of Columbus for a silver platter and two silver vases. In the 1972 exhibition catalogue, Mary Newcome noted that the depiction of the Gulf of Genoa in the background corresponds with contemporary prints which show the lighthouse on the promontory across from the fortified walls where ships docked (p. 6).

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