Pierre Gassendi
Former TitlePetrus Gassendus
Artist
Claude Mellan
(French, 1598 - 1688)
Datemid-17th century
MediumEngraving
DimensionsImage: 8 9/16 × 5 11/16 inches (21.75 × 14.45 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number34-196
On View
Not on viewCollections
Exhibition HistoryPortraiture, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 19-November 28, 2010, no cat., as Pierre Gassendi.
Portraiture, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 17-July 15, 2018, no cat., as Pierre Gassendi.
Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher and scientist. He held several church offices and ranked as one of the leading mathematicians of his day. He participated in the scientific revolution of the 17th century by opposing the long-established authority of the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and updating the atomic theories of antiquity. The engraving brings out the sitter's enquiring mind with great clarity by setting him off against a blank background and sensitively describing the details of his beard and fur-lined coat.
With Alden Galleries, Kansas City, MO, by April 21, 1934;
Purchased from Alden Galleries by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934.Ambroise Firmin-Didot, Les Graveurs de portraits en France, vol. 2 (Paris: Librairie Firmin-Didot, 1875-77), no. 1527, p. 201, as Gassendi (Pierre).
George L. McKenna, Prints, 1460-1995 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1996), 289, as Pierre Gassendi.
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