Artist: Micele Felice Cornč (1805). From the placard accompanying this work: "Based on William Hogarth's etching "Columbus Breaking the Egg," this painting depicts a purported episode between Columbus and his critics at a dinner party. After being told that anyone could have discovered the New World, Columbus asked his dinner companions if they could stand an egg up on its smaller end. Following their unsuccessful attempts, Columbus took his egg and struck it gently against the table to slightly flatten one end, and the egg stood upright. "Now gentlemen," he is reputed to have said, "you can all do it!"