11/11/92
Do you think, dear Dr Bride, that the trustees will secure the plaque of Columbus?1 I think, that it is really very valuable, and I should be sorry to let it go out of the colony, but my worldly affairs are at present such, that I cannot keep it myself, as I much wish, or to make a present of it.
Will you kindly allow me the question, do you get the Acta Acad. Caesar. Leopold-Carolina2 by interchange or purchase?
Regardfully your
Ferd von Mueller.
I urged a geogr. Council 's meeting for next week, to start our new triennial work.3 Do kindly attend if you possibly can.
At the grand celebration held on 12 October 1892 by the Victorian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia to mark the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of America, among the items displayed was 'De Bry's reproduction of Columbus's portrait, a large bronze plaque, nearly life-size, surrounded by two mermaids' (Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Victorian Branch, vol. 10 (1893), p. 102). The report continued: 'It is stated that the original of this picture was painted by order of King Ferdinand; subsequently it was abstracted from the Indian archives in Spain, and found its way to the Netherlands, where it was copied and engraved by De Bry, in 1593. This is considered the oldest portrait extant.' The plaque does not appear in the catalogue of the State Library of Victoria, or in that of the National Gallery of Victoria.
Leopoldina: Amtliches Organ der Kaiserlichen Leopoldinisch-Carolinischen Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher? In former times, the Academy's journal had been published in Latin under the title Acta, then Nova Acta.
That is, to consider the Branch's programme of exploration and other activities for the next three years.
Please cite as “FVM-92-11-11,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on