Columbus, mounted on a mule, is prepared to depart from the gate of the convent run by friar Juan Perez, former confessor to Queen Isabella. While sheltering Columbus and his son, Perez was so impressed with Columbus's vision that he wrote to the Queen urging her to reconsider supporting the expedition. Statuettes of Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico, and the Lady Beatrix de Bobadilla, an attendant of Isabella who befriended Columbus, flank this panel.