Two Pythagorases, or Pythagorii

JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

I wanted to take a moment to share these two versions of the same image. This fine engraving of Pythagoras was printed in 1739  and appeared in Veterum Illustrium Philosophorum, Poetarum, Rhetorim et Oratorum Imagines...by Jo. Petri Bellorii, and published in Rome.  (The image measures 8.5x5"inches on a sheet 13x9", and is on very heavy and thick paper.) It very closely follows the portraits of Pythagoras that appeared on coins and medallions from 1500+ years ago, so the attitude and the design is ancient. What is shows is a ripped Pythagoras gently touching a globe which is undoubtedly representing the Earth, as one of the many achievements of Pythagoras was to show that the Earth was a sphere. This is a problematic priority to establish, but certainly Pythagoras was among the earliest to establish this idea. (I still have not heard how Flat Earthers deal with the issue of different night skies for the northern and southern hemispheres, among other things.)

The image differs somewhat from that below, and is sharper, with greater detail, which is a little odd, as it is newer than the other, though I guess it is possible that this was simply copied and a new plate was made for the engraving--generally after time and use the the engraved plate will show some wear and eventually the image will show dings and other bits.

Here'she other version, which I think was executed by an engraver copying Theodor Galle, which would make it 16th century, though for the life of me the print doesn't feel to me to be that age--it is old, for sure, and I would've guessed 17th or 18th century, but not 16th.  I've not found this image anywhere though I've found similar that point to Galle in the 16th c. (And oh yes, the image is 4" round on a 7.5x5.5-inch sheet.)  Perhaps the original plate was reworked hundreds of years later to yield an inferior print--and for some reason the staff does not appear in the earlier version, though some artist reworked Pythagoras' hand so that he could better hold the staff in the modern version.