Title: Galileo, portrait of three astronomers, frontispiece from Systema Cosmicum, Augustae Treboc. [Strasbourg], 1635
Date: 1635
Original Format: photograph: negative
Description: In the first Latin edition of the Dialogo, the portrait has been reengraved and significantly altered from the Italian original. Two columns have been added, and above them the curtain with the dedication to Galileo’s patron, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, is held not by Italian putti but by little angels, who also support the Medici crest. The astronomers’ poses are similar to the original, but Copernicus looks out toward the reader and holds his model of the heliocentric system in a more prominent position. The names of the astronomers are engraved in the ground rather than on their garments. The arrow points more clearly to Copernicus. The small stones on the ground, much more than in the Italian version, appear to represent the the configuration of sun and planets.
Collection: Rare Books
Caltech Archives ID: RB-GG1635-1
