Niccolò Tornioli
(Siena 1598 – Roma 1651)
The Astronomers
Oil on canvas, cm 148×218,5
The work is the masterpiece of the painter, who is here engaged in a large composition strongly influenced by Caravaggio. Its value as historical testimony is remarkable, as it represents the fundamental scientific debate between the heliocentric and geocentric theories.
It belonged to Virgilio Spada, who acquired it in 1645, and depicts famous ancient and modern astronomers in dispute with each other over the validity of the ancient Ptolemaic and modern Copernican theories. The central figure, identified as Nicolaus Copernicus, is pointing to the phases of a celestial body in support of the heliocentric theory he proposed in 1543. On the left, in the foreground, Aristotle and Ptolemy, supporters of the older theses; on the right, the astronomer’s study tools, such as the globe and sextant, as well as the telescope recently invented by Galileo Galilei.
The scene is completed with characters of difficult identification, scaled in the various planes: among them, a richly attired female figure, Astronomy, and in the background the portrait of Galilei himself.
