The first landing of Christopher Columbus in America
1862. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
According to a very personal interpretation of the painter, the scene represents the first expedition of Christopher Columbus to the Indies (1451/1456? –Valladolid, 1506), and his arrival at Guanahani island on 12 October 1492, which he baptised with the name of San Salvador. The white-haired Columbus kneels on the mainland. He is dressed in red, with the raised banner in his left hand and the sword resting in his right hand, directing his eyes towards the sky. Columbus is surrounded by his companions, who have arrived in boats. All of them are dressed differently, depending on whether they are sailors or soldiers, and carrying banners or weapons with them. To the left of the composition, a group of half-naked and surprised Indians are close to a Franciscan friar –an anachronism, since there was none in the expedition– who clasps a crucifix. In the background, in a calm sea, the caravels are anchored with their sails folded.
The painting emerged from a sketch with which the painter fulfilled one of his obligations as a second-year pensioner, and which later De la Banda made public. The sketch hardly has any variations, except for the one with less emphasis on the characters and slight changes in some of their postures, such as the monk´s arms, as well as an interesting life study for the admiral´s head. Not only this painting served as an inescapable reference for all painters who later tackled this subject, but also Puebla himself reused the admiral´s face in one of the figures of his painting Margarete and Mephistopheles in the Cathedral. Moreover, this painting was considered to be a compositional prototype for related themes. In fact, it was closely referred to by Antonio Gisbert in his painting Landing of the Puritans in North America, painted only two years later. Likewise, its composition was recreated by Juan de Orduña in one of the culminating scenes of his film Alba de América, released in 1951.
Elorza Guinea, Juan Carlos, Dióscoro Puebla (1831-1901), Burgos, Junta de Castilla y León, 1993, p.84-87
