An Astronomer

The painting shows an astronomer at a table, on which are terrestrial and celestial globes. The work also draws on the themes of Melencolia I, an engraving by Albrecht Dürer.

The depicted man, who is peering into an open book with a frowning expression, can easily be identified as an astronomer due to the presence of a world map and a celestial sphere on the table. The painting perhaps belongs to the trend dating back to Dürer, in which scientists were depicted in the melancholy generated by the awareness of the futility of their research in face of the prospect of death.^[2]