COPERNICUS

In the early 1970s, Władysław Brzosko began to paint a portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish: Mikolaj Kopernik) to celebrate the quincentennial of his birthday (b. 1473). He determined to create a large format painting, 44" x 60", that could tie Copernicus to the 20th century. Part of the finished canvas refers to the space exploration program of the 1960s.

The Copernicus portrait evolved through numerous charcoal drawings and watercolors, as Brzosko worked through his ideas for the final composition. The resulting painting portrays a dignified astronomer seated on a balcony of his observatory at the Cathedral of Frombork, Poland, with a scene of the 1969 moon landing to the right. The portrait was displayed at the Smithsonian Institute during a 1973 Symposium celebrating the 500th anniversary of Copernicus's birth.