Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid painting's canvas was almost certainly cut from the same bolt used for "Woman with a Lute". "Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid" is the first of the artist's experiments with centrifugal composition; where the focus is not only from the centre of the canvas. In addition, it is his third work in which the drama and dynamic is not centred on a single figure. The maid is shown standing in the mid-ground, behind her lady, with her hands crossed and waiting for the letter to be completed. The positions of their bodies indicate that the two women are disconnected.
Columbus's letter on the first voyage Only the printed editions—Spanish and Latin—are known. However, a third version of the letter, contained in a 16th-century manuscript collection known as the "Libro Copiador", was discovered in 1985. This manuscript version differs in several significant ways from the printed editions and, although its authenticity is still tentative, many believe the "Copiador" version to be a closer rendition of Columbus's original missive. The published Latin versions of the letter are almost all titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered". The term "India beyond the Ganges" ("India extra Gangem") was the archaic term frequently