"Colombo giovinetto" or "The First Inspiration of the Boy Columbus"
Columbus as a charming child at play: he is sitting on a mooring-post upon a pier, against which the waves are breaking; he is in deep meditation and holds a book in his hand.
On the base of the statue is the coat-of-arms of Genoa, the caravel and the date "MCCCCLX" (1460).
The sculpture was in the exhibition Under Italian Sky… Sculptures produced in Italy by European masters, 8 June 1999 - 1 April, 2000, in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, where is was listed as one of the most important works in the exhibition.
Notes
Bistagno (province of Alessandria) is the birthplace of the sculptor Giulio Monteverde (1837-1917).
For further information and an overview of the copies, see: Genova (De Albertis), on this page is also a reproduction of Monteverde's original drawing.
A different statue of "The Boy Columbus" by Monteverde is in the Christopher Columbus High School in New York.
Stefano Rizzi, Lo scultore di "Colombo giovinetto": A 150 anni dalle nascita di Giulio Monteverde, in Columbus '92, vol. 4, no. 1 [24] (Genova, 1988). Photocopy sent to me by Alex Borgogno.
The drawing is the original of Monteverde, and is published in a compilation of texts and documents edited for 1892 celebration in Italy. (Thanks to J.M. Urvoy).
