Sculptures from the Copernican Museum in Rome

The woodcut was made by the renowned Warsaw xylographer and wood engraver Aleksander Regulski (1839–1884) based on a drawing by the painter and illustrator Franciszek Tegazzo (1829–1879), also from Warsaw. The creators of the sculptures depicted in the woodcut are: Wiktor Brodzki (1826–1904), a sculptor who studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. From 1890 onwards, he was an honorary member of the Polish National Museum Society in Rapperswil. Teodor Rygier (1841–1913), a sculptor who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. His most famous work is the monument of Adam Mickiewicz in Krakow. Teofil Godecki (1847–1918), a sculptor who completed the Drawing Class of Gerson in Warsaw. During his stay in Italy, he created two bronze medallions in 1876 with the portraits of Copernicus and Galileo for the Copernican Museum in Rome. The woodcut depicts two statues and a bust of Nicolaus Copernicus, as well as medallions with the portraits of Copernicus and Galileo, between which the most important work of Nicolaus Copernicus, „De revolutionibus orbium coelestium“ – containing the presentation of the heliocentric and heliostatic structure of the universe, is displayed. The main founder of the Copernican Museum at the University of Rome, where these sculptures are located, was the Polish emigrant historian Artur Wołyński (1844–1893). The idea of creating the museum on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Copernicus‘ birth was proposed by Professor of Philosophy Domenico Berti (1820–1897), an Italian essayist, politician, and scientist who was the former Minister of Education and a member of the Italian Parliament. The museum aimed to emphasize the Polish scientific achievements and the centuries-old Polish-Italian connections. It was also intended to testify to the Polish heritage of Nicolaus Copernicus. Source: Tygodnik Ilustrowany, 1876. Series 3, vol. 2, no. 44 (October 28).