Marco Polo Writes in His Journal, 2005, oil on panel, 10.75x14 inches Though simple in appearance, and almost shockingly tiny, Sturges' work is undeniably high concept. In Travels With Marco Polo, a selection of 19 paintings-few more than a scant square foot in size-she presents complete, beautifully detailed visions of fanciful, slightly askew villages, forests, deserts, and mountains. Nora Sturges has perfected the art of visual narrative. While the right hand route may indicate the beginning of his route home. In China the left hand route represents Marco Polo's travels in China. The Polos did not visit both of these places on the same journey (either coming or going), so the map is wrong to that extent. From Venice, the first circle marks Constantinople, and the second, Acre. Circles mark other cities the Polos visited. The stars indicate Venice and Shang-tu the capital of Kublai Khan. The map shows the route of the Polos across Eastern Europe and Asia to China. Mark and inscription "Pax tibi Marce, for Venice the city of his birth in 1254, as well as a the dragon pillar of Peking and an inscription in Chinese. The Italian stamp, issued in 1954 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's birth, shows a portrait of Marco Polo, a flying lion of St. In Persia Marco Polo listening to the story of the Three Kings Marco Polo receiving the Golden Book from the Great Khan The Great Khan dispensing alms to the poor in Cambaluc Marco Polo delivers a letter from Pope Gregory X to the Great Khan The miniatures on the stamps marking the 700 anniversary of Marco Polo's return from China are from the early 15th century manuscript of Li livres du Graunt Caam (Bodleian Library, MS. See the other stamps that were issued by the Vatican with this souvenir. The image of Marco Polo on the stamp on the sheet is from the first printed edition of Il Milione, Marco Polo's account of his twenty-five years in Asia. The route of the Polos on their journey to Iran and then to Venice is traced in red on the map. The map that provides the background of the souvenir sheet is very much like a two-hemisphere map, Nova Orbis Tabula/Mappe Monde ou Description Du Globe Terrestre et Aquatique, published by Alexis Hubert Jaillot in 1694. Once that mission was completed Marco and his family continued on to Venice where they arrived in 1295. In 1292 he served as an escort for a Chinese princess on a trip to Iran. Marco Polo entered diplomatic corps of Kublai Kahn and carried out missions throughout the empire, even serving as governor of Yangchow. Two years later they returned to China taking Marco with them and arriving at Shang Tu, China in 1275. In 1260 they traveled by land to China, where they remained in Kaifeng the eastern capital of the Mongol emperor, Kublai Kahn until 1269. The Europeans at Canton have absurdly attached the name of Marco Polo to a figure in a Buddhist temple there containing a gallery of "Arhans" or Buddhist saints, and popularly known as the "temple of the five hundred gods."įrom the first printed edition of Il Milione, Marco Polo's account of his twenty-five years in Asia. It is a good picture, but evidently of the 16th century at earliest. The oldest professed portrait is one in the gallery of Monsignor Badia at Rome, which is inscribed Marcus Polus venetus totius orbis et Indie peregrator primus. However, a portrait of Polo from a bygone era, genuine or not, may hold just as much value. How could such a famed and widely known figure have never had a formal portrait painted? The number of possible genuine portraits of Polo are endless, and the possibility for one turning up some day is great. There is a medallion portrait on the wall of the Sala dello Scudo in the ducal palace, which has become a kind of type but it is a work of imagination no older than 1761. To date, there are no genuine portraits of this historical figure. The great Italian Explorer Marco Polo has created a great mystery in the art world. Think that you may own a portrait of Marco Polo? We authenticate, appraise, research and issue certificates of authenticity (COA) and provide consultations for all portraits of Marco Polo. 16th century Painting in the Gallery of Monsignor Badia in Rome
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