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Secondary sourcePainting1580

Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus

Unknown · 1580

A 16th-century oil painting of Copernicus, believed to follow a self-portrait, held at Toruń Town Hall and used as the model for most later images of him.

This portrait, based on a possible self-portrait, shaped how Copernicus has been pictured ever since.

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Oil painting portrait of a man with shoulder-length dark hair and a fringe, shown from the chest up against a dark brown background. He wears a red garment with a grey collar over a black undershirt and white collar edge, and looks toward the viewer's left with a slight closed-mouth expression.
Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus, Toruń Town Hall, 1580.

About this source

What it is

This oil painting shows a man with shoulder-length dark hair, dressed in a red garment with a grey collar. It was painted in the 16th century and kept at the Town Hall in Toruń, the town where Copernicus was born. It is believed to be based on a self-portrait by Copernicus himself.

Why it matters

Because few images of Copernicus survive from his lifetime, this painting became the main source for how later generations imagined him. It shows how people in his own era wanted him remembered — not as a mathematician surrounded by instruments, but as a respected, well-dressed scholar.

Look closer

  • What does the clothing and pose suggest about the sitter's status?
  • Why might later artists have copied this image so often?
  • What does the painting NOT tell us about his scientific work?

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

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Title page of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, printed 1543 in Nuremberg by Johann Petreius. Large capitals read NICOLAI COPERNICI TORINENSIS, followed by the book title and an address to the reader in Latin. Handwritten ink marks read Bibliotheca and Univers, and a Greek motto appears below the text.Book

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De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

Nicolaus Copernicus · 1543

Engraved portrait print of Nicolaus Copernicus in an octagonal frame with stippled background. A man with wavy shoulder-length hair wears a fur-trimmed garment and holds a small armillary-style sphere. Caption reads NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, with publisher line Zwickau, bei Gebr. Schumann below.Painting

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Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (Schumann print)

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Scanned page from a 1543 printed book titled Nicolai Copernici, showing a diagram of concentric circles with the Sun at the center, labeled planetary orbits including Mercury, Venus, Earth (terra) with the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the outer sphere of fixed stars. Latin text surrounds the diagram.Artifact

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Copernicus's Diagram of the Planetary System

Nicolaus Copernicus · 1543

Engraved oval portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus, a man with wavy shoulder-length hair and a fur-collared garment, inside a decorative border with Latin inscriptions and dates, on a book page photographed on a dark background with a gray scale.Painting

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Engraved Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (Herzog August Library)

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Engraved portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus in an oval frame, shown on a book page with a page number 52 in the corner. The man has curly hair and wears a fur-trimmed garment. Latin inscription 'NICOLAUS COPERNICUS' appears at the bottom, with a verse text block below and a catalogue number beneath the page.Painting

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Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (Albertina Museum)

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