Christopher Columbus

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Christopher Columbus : biography

c. 1451 – 20 May 1506
In literature
  • In 1889, American author Mark Twain based the time traveler’s trick in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court on Columbus’s successful prediction of a lunar eclipse during his fourth voyage to the New World.
  • "Columbus", a poem by Florence Earle Coates, was published in Harper’s Weekly on 22 October 1892.
  • In 1941 the British author Rafael Sabatini published a novel Columbus, based on a screenplay he had written for a planned film. The story provided the inspiration for the 1949 film about Columbus.
  • In 1958, the Italian playwright Dario Fo wrote a satirical play about Columbus titled Isabella, tre caravelle e un cacciaballe (Isabella, three tall ships and a con man). In 1997 Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The play was translated into English in 1988 by Ed Emery and is downloadable on the internet.
  • In 1991, author Salman Rushdie published a fictional representation of Columbus in The New Yorker, "Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship, Santa Fe, January, 1492".The New Yorker, 17 June 1991, p. 32.
  • In Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996) science fiction novelist Orson Scott Card focuses on Columbus’s life and activities, but the novel’s action also deals with a group of scientists from the future who travel back to the 15th century with the goal of changing the pattern of European contact with the Americas.
  • British author Stephen Baxter includes Columbus’s quest for royal sponsorship as a crucial historical event in his 2007 science fiction novel Navigator (ISBN 978-0-441-01559-7), the third entry in the author’s Time’s Tapestry Series.
  • American novelist Steve Berry’s 2012 book The Columbus Affair revolves around the premise that Columbus’s voyages held a secret purpose, with clues to an ancient Jewish treasure.
In music
  • Christopher Columbus is regularly referred to by singers and musical groups in the Rastafari movement as an example of a European oppressor. The detractors include Burning Spear (Christopher Columbus), Culture (Capture Rasta), and Peter Tosh (You Can’t Blame The Youth, Here Comes The Judge).
On Screen
  • Christopher Columbus is a 1949 film starring Fredric March as Columbus.
  • The 1985 TV mini-series, Christopher Columbus, features Gabriel Byrne as Columbus.
  • Columbus was portrayed by Gérard Depardieu in the 1992 film by Ridley Scott, 1492: Conquest of Paradise. Scott presented Columbus as a forward-thinking idealist, as opposed to the view that he was ruthless and responsible for the misfortune of Native Americans.
  • Carry On Columbus is a 1992 comedy.
  • Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, is a 1992 biographical film by Alexander Salkind.
  • The 42nd episode of The Sopranos, entitled "Christopher" (2002), addresses the controversies surrounding Columbus’s legacy from the perspectives of numerous identity group members.
  • Cristóvão Colombo – O Enigma is a 2007 film by Manoel de Oliveira in which the main character travels between America and Portugal trying to prove that Christopher Columbus was, in fact, Portuguese.
In sculpture
  • Isabella and Columbus by Larkin Mead, 1874, California State Capitol, Sacramento, California
  • Christopher Columbus, by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, Arrigo Park, Chicago. Illinois, 1891Bach, Ira and Mary Lackritz Gray, A Guide to Chicago’s Public Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1983 p. 226
  • Drake Fountain, also known as the Columbus Monument by Richard Henry Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1892Riedy, James L., Chicago Sculpture, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1981 pp. 203–204
  • Christopher Columbus by Ferdinand von Miller the Younger, St. Louis, Missouri, 1884, This work is different from most in that it shows a bearded Columbus. It is believed to be the first bronze statue of Columbus in the United States.McCue, George, Photographs by David Finn and Amy Binder, Sculpture City: St. Louis, Sculpture in the "Gateway to the West" Hudson Hills Press NY and Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, 1988, pp. 43–45
  • Colossal Columbus statue by Mary Lawrence, 1893, at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois,Photographs of the World’s Fair: An elaborate Collection of Photographs of the Buildings, Grounds and the Exhibits of the World’s Columbian Exposition with a special description of The Midway Exposition, The Werner Company, Chicago, 1894, p. 191
  • Columbus by Paul Wayland Bartlett ca. 1895 Library of Congress, Washington D.C.Small, Herbert, The Library of Congress: The Architecture and Decoration, Classical America, WW Norton & Company, New York, 1982, p. 93
  • Christopher Columbus Memorial by Pietro Piai 1904, Pueblo, Colorado. "Colorado was the first state to make Columbus Day a legal holiday in 1905 and this is reportedly the first monument to Columbus erected in the United States."
  • Christopher Columbus, by Augusto Rivalta, Detroit, Michigan, 1910,Nawrocki, Dennis Alan, Art in Detroit Public Places, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan, 1980, p. 26
  • Columbus Fountain, by Lorado Taft, 1912, Washington D.C.
  • Christopher Columbus, by Virgil Rainer, Chicago, Illinois,Riedy, James L., Chicago Sculpture, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1981, pp. 204–205 1924
  • Christopher Columbus by Charles Brioschi, assisted by Leo Lentelli, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1931Harris, Moira A., Monumental Minnesota: A Guide to Outdoor Sculpture, Pogp Press Inc., 1992, p. 17
  • Christopher Columbus by Charles Brioschi, Grant Park (Chicago), 1933Bach, Ira and Mary Lackritz Gray, A Guide to Chicago’s Public Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1983, pp. 9–10
  • Christopher Columbus, by Frank Vittor, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1958Evert, Marlyn and Vernon Gay, photographs, Discovering Pittsburgh’s Sculpture, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 1983, pp. 182–183
  • Christopher Columbus Monument by David W. Oswald, Columbus, Wisconsin, 1988Beajer and Style, Public Sculpture in Wisconsin: An Atlas of Outdoor Monuments, Memorials and Masterpieces in the Badger State, SOS! Wisconsin, Save Outdoor Sculpture and Fine Arts Conservation Services, Madison Wisconsin, 1999, p. 106