Christopher Columbus, the Great Genoese What did Columbus look like? There are some direct observations, which state that he was handsome, taller than average and heavily built; he had light-colored and lively eyes; blond hair with red tints; long face; broad forehead; aquiline nose, imperious appearance. Perfect sight and hearing and above all an exceptional sense of smell: the crucial qualities for his "sixth sense of the sea." Between thirty and thirty-five years of age his hair faded to white. There are many portraits of Christopher Columbus, but none of them were made while he was alive. Here he is in a portrait attributed to the Florentine artist Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, in the Naval Museum of Genoa Pegli.