Nicolas Copernicus

In the mid-seventeenth century, Jacob van Meurs had published a portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus holding a scientific instrument and wearing a fur-trimmed coat. This image was later copied by the antiquarian Anne Claude Philippe, Compte de Caylus, and engraved by a C.B., to be published by the Parisian firm Odiuvre. This later print varies little from van Meurs’, except that the lettered oval frame has been replaced by a caption beneath the portrait.