Buste van Simon Paulli 1666

Albert Haelwegh created this engraving of Simon Paulli, likely in the mid-17th century, using the intaglio process. It depicts Paulli as a bust, an iconographic representation of the sitter common at the time and designed to imbue the subject with the aura of classical learning and civic virtue. Paulli was a professor of anatomy, surgery, and botany at the University of Copenhagen, as the inscription at the bottom of the print attests. The inscription also claims that Paulli was introduced to botany studies in 1639, which was an important moment in the development of the field in Denmark. Prints such as these played an important role in the circulation of knowledge and the construction of academic reputations, which had become ever more important since the proliferation of universities in the 17th century. To understand the image better, one might research the history of the University of Copenhagen, the development of botany as a discipline, and the role of portraiture in early modern Europe. This would reveal the complex interplay of social, cultural, and institutional forces that shaped the artwork's meaning and significance.