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Primary sourcePainting1733

Portrait of Anders Celsius

Olof Arenius · 1733

An oil painting of Anders Celsius made during his lifetime, the main source for how he is pictured today.

The principal lifetime portrait of Celsius and source of most later images of him.

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Oil painting of a man with powdered white hair in a wig, wearing a dark brown coat with gold buttons and a white cravat, against a dark background with blue-grey tones. He has a slight smile and looks toward the viewer.
Olof Arenius, Portrait of Anders Celsius, 1733. Uppsala University.

About this source

What it is

This 1733 oil portrait of Anders Celsius was painted by Olof Arenius and is held by Uppsala University. It shows Celsius dressed in the fashion of a Swedish gentleman scholar of his time.

Why it matters

Because this portrait was painted while Celsius was alive, it is the main source for nearly every later image of him. It helps students connect a name and a scientific unit to a real person who lived in 18th-century Sweden.

Look closer

  • What details of clothing or pose tell you about Celsius's social status or profession?
  • Why might a university want to commission a formal portrait of one of its scholars?
  • What can't a painted portrait tell us about a person, compared to a photograph or a written account?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Anders Celsius on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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A man stands laying a wreath at a grave in Old Uppsala Church during a 1944 commemorative ceremony.Photograph

Secondary source

Wreath-Laying at Anders Celsius's Grave

Axel Sagerholm · 1944

Line drawing of a long, slender thermometer with a bulb at the bottom and a graduated scale marked with letters and numbers including 150, 125, 100, 75, 50, 25, and 0 along its stem.Artifact

Primary source

Celsius Original Thermometer Illustration

Anders Celsius · 1742

A photograph of an inverted thermometer displayed as a valued historical instrument in a meteorology museum.Photograph

Secondary source

Celsius's Inverted Thermometer in the Uppsala Meteorology Museum

Uppsala-Bild · 1963

Celsius House, Former ObservatoryPhotograph

Secondary source

Celsius House, Former Observatory

Uppsala-Bild · 1964

A yellow three-storey corner building with cream-coloured quoins and a black railing on the flat roof. The sign on the facade reads GULDSMED. A street lamp and a downpipe stand in front, with bare tree branches in the foreground.Photograph

Secondary source

Celsiushuset Building, Uppsala

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