Tito Lessi (Italian, 1858-1917)
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Tito Lessi (Italian, 1858-1917)

Toscanelli et les ambassadeurs de Portugal

Details
Tito Lessi (Italian, 1858-1917)
Toscanelli et les ambassadeurs de Portugal
signed, inscribed and dated 'Tito.Lessi.Firenze.1903' (lower left)
oil on panel
21¼ x 27¾ in. (55 x 70.5 cm.)
Provenance
National Association of Artists, Piazza Pitti, Florence
Gallerie Sedelmeyer, Paris
Exhibited
Paris Salon, 1904
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium. This lot is subject to Collection and Storage Charges.

Lot Essay

In July 1459, a meeting took place in Florence between the famous savant Paolo Toscanelli and the ambassadors of King Alphonse V of Portugal; where Toscanelli advanced his theory of the possibility of travelling to the West Indies by a more direct route across the Atlantic ocean. Fifteen years later, he communicated this theory to Christopher Columbus and, on this basis in 1492, during the reign of Ferdinand V, King of Spain, Columbus he discovered the Americas.

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