The painting (or a copy of the original) does not match the written descriptions of Columbus. It shows an older man with gray hair, a round face, downcast brown eyes, a protruding lower lip, and a dimple in his chin-a feature never discussed in any account of Columbus's appearance. He wears ecclesiastical dress, which for many confirmed that this portrait must be the true likeness of Columbus painted from life. Most likely, some unknown artist hired by Jovius produced a likeness out of sheer imagination for the collection.
The Jovian portrait, later owned by a descendant of Jovius, Count Alessandro Orchi, is famous because so many copies were made from the original. Stimmer's "somewhat rude woodcut" used in the Jovius biography shows a man with an arched right brow with a long, aquiline nose, but still possessing a dimple in the chin [right].
It was the custom of the day to make copies of famous works of art. Several painters were sent to make copies for various collections. Among them Cristofano dell'Altissimo, who made copies for the gallery of Duke Cosimo of Tuscany. In 1556 Altissimo wrote in a letter about sending two boxes of portraits back to the Duke with one containing a likeness of the Admiral. Today the portrait hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Excerpt from Paul Martin Lester, Looks Are Deceiving: the Portraits of Christopher Columbus, Originally published in Visual Anthropology, Vol. 5, pp. 211-227 C1993 Harwood Academic Publishers GmbH; click here for the WWW-version.
