by Austin Sprake:
by Geoffrey Godden:
This landscape scene shows Christopher Columbus being ferried out in a rowing-boat to the Santa Maria while a priest on the Spanish shore stands, with other figures, giving his blessing to the expedition. The title "Columbus Leaving Spain" is woven in the bottom of the picture, near the left-hand corner. "Landing of Columbus" forms a pair with this one [see st392 on this site].
This historical subject was probably first introduced at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The very first issues, or those woven at the American exhibition, have only the woven title "Columbus Leaving Spain" [see st80 on this site]. This hitherto unrecorded and very rare version was soon amended to the standard title "Columbus Leaving Spain 1492" - that is, with the date '1492' added [as above].
The early examples made at (or for) the Chicago Exhibition of 1893 are found on two different types of card-mount. The earliest and rarest card-mount (which varies in quality from the standard English card-mounts, and is shown first above) may have been made and printed in America; the second standard version (being the second image above) links in quality and style of printing with the normal Stevens English mount of the early 1890s.
This subject, with its companion, was first included in label 29+38. It is normally found on card-mounts of type C3 and D4, but is often also found on card-mount E1 or on mounts without any wording. These latter examples are, of course, rather late in period.
Other comments:
Confirmation that Stevens was actually present at the Exposition, with the credit:-
" WOVEN IN PURE SILK AT THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO, 1893 BY THE STEVENGRAPH WORKS, COVENTRY, ENG. ":
