Portret van de mineraloog René Just Haüy 1820

This is Julien-Léopold Boilly's portrait of the mineralogist René Just Haüy. Note the inscription below the portrait, announcing Haüy as a member of the Royal Institute of France. Such emblems of honor were very important during the Enlightenment. We must consider how symbols like these resurface across time and space. The very notion of an academy, inherited from classical antiquity, suggests the timeless human striving for knowledge. It connects us to Plato's Academy, a place for philosophical contemplation, as well as the Renaissance revival of classical learning. This portrait, then, is not merely of a man, but of an archetype. Haüy embodies a spirit of inquiry that has coursed through human history. Such images tap into our collective memory, reminding us of our shared intellectual heritage. Just as mineral crystals reform under pressure, these symbols are continually reshaped by the currents of history.