Efforts to promote a commemorative coin for the exposition began around January 1892. They were strongly advocated by the head of the Company's Committee on Liberal Arts, James Ellsworth, who was particularly interested as he had recently purchased a 16th-century painting by Lorenzo Lotto of a learned man, said to be Columbus. Ellsworth wanted the portrait to be the basis of the coin. In this, he was advised by author and journalist William Eleroy Curtis, also a fair official. In April 1892, partisans had gained the support of the Director of the Bureau of the Mint, Edward O. Leech, who envisioned a coin carrying a visage of Columbus on one side, and a suitable inscription on the other. Curtis was well aware of the difficulties with the Mint's failed competition for new silver coins in 1891, which had led to the issuance of the Barber coinage, designed by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber. The new coins were widely criticized, and Curtis counseled Ellsworth to gain control of the commemorative coin's design process, to ensure both a better design and the use of the Lotto portrait. No United States coin had depicted an actual person, although the goddess of Liberty had often been portrayed.