Portrait of Amerigo Vespucci from Nova Reperta
Joannes Stradanus (Hans van der Straet) (1523-1605)
Published by Philip Galle (1537-1612); engraved by Hans Collaert (d. after 1621)
Antwerp, Belgium, c. 1600
Engraving
WOP-70

This scene illustrates Amerigo Vespucci observing the constellation of the Southern Cross while his crew sleeps. On the left is an inset portrait of the poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who wrote about this constellation in the Purgatory section of his Divine Comedy. On his 1501 voyage, Vespucci referenced Dante's words about this constellation, claiming that he was the first European to see it. It is unknown how Dante was familiar with the Southern Cross since accounts of it were not published until two hundred years after his death.