Pictures of Archimedes

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Below are some pictures of Archimedes from various sources.
All are fanciful representations; no true likeness of Archimedes has survived.

A copper engraving of Archimedes from a nineteenth-century book. A caption reads:

George Cooke fecit.
London, Publish'd by Vernor, Hood & Sharpe, Poultry, 1807.

Enlarged views:

   1200 dpi, 3200 x5400 pixels, 256 grayscales, 1933 kilobytes
   600 dpi, 1600 x 2700 pixels, 256 grayscales, 754 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 400 x 675 pixels, 256 grayscales, 91 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 200 x 320 pixels, 256 grayscales, 23 kilobytes

Detail of the above engraving.

Enlarged views:

   600 dpi, 1400 x 1700 pixels, 256 grayscales, 233 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 350 x 425 pixels, 256 grayscales, 91 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 175 x 212 pixels, 256 grayscales, 10 kilobytes

Detail from an antique engraved portrait.

Enlarged views:

   1200 dpi, 3200 x 4400 pixels, black & white gif, 399 kilobytes
   600 dpi, 1600 x 2200 pixels, black & white gif, 146 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 400 x 550 pixels, 256 grayscales, 93 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 200 x 275 pixels, 256 grayscales, 25 kilobytes

An embossed chromolithographic outer label for cigar boxes dating from 1895-1915. It measures 10.4 x 11.7 centimeters.

Enlarged views:

   600 dpi, 2560 x 2880 pixels, color jpeg, 1763 kilobytes
   300 dpi, 1280 x 1440 pixels, color jpeg, 522 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 640 x 720 pixels, color jpeg, 198 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 320 x 360 pixels, color jpeg, 56 kilobytes

Image from a postcard printed in the Soviet Union in 1957. The reverse contains a few remarks about Archimedes in Russian. The postcard measures 14.8 x 10.4 centimeters.

The image is based on a bust in the National Museum (Naples, Italy) widely claimed to represent Archimedes, but which is actually a bust of Archidamos III, a third-century BC king of Sparta.

Enlarged views:

   600 dpi, 2300 x 3050 pixels, color jpeg, 657 kilobytes
   300 dpi, 1150 x 1525 pixels, color jpeg, 280 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 575 x 762 pixels, color jpeg, 99 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 288 x 382 pixels, color jpeg, 33 kilobytes

This tobacco card included in packs of cigarettes was issued by Cigarette Oriental de Belgique in 1938. It is card 26 from a set of 100 cards entitled Famous Men through the Ages. The back of the card contains a brief biography of Archimedes in French and Dutch. It measures 6.0 x 8.8 centimeters.

Enlarged views:

   600 dpi, 1412 x 2080 pixels, color jpeg, 517 kilobytes
   300 dpi, 706 x 1040 pixels, color jpeg, 137 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 353 x 520 pixels, color jpeg, 57 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 177 x 260 pixels, color jpeg, 19 kilobytes

This card, issued in 1965, was included in packages of Jacques chocolates by Jacques Superchocolat of Belgium. It is from a set of 240 cards entitled "Collection De Chromos Instructifs" and measures 5.0 x 6.8 centimeters.

Enlarged views:

   600 dpi, 1170 x 1620 pixels, color jpeg, 498 kilobytes
   300 dpi, 585 x 810 pixels, color jpeg, 210 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 293 x 405 pixels, color jpeg, 67 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 146 x 202 pixels, color jpeg, 22 kilobytes

Detail of an 1892 engraving by M. Weber of a painting by the Italian artist Niccolò Barabino (1832-1891). The painting is now located in the Modern Art Gallery of the Revoltella Museum in Trieste, Italy.

A tissue guard containing a brief biography of Archimedes accompanied the engraving.

Enlarged views:

   600 dpi, 2210 x 2400 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 1137 kilobytes
   300 dpi, 1105 x 1200 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 385 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 553 x 600 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 96 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 276 x 300 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 26 kilobytes

A 1740 engraving of Archimedes planning the defenses of Syracuse. The Greek writing on his cap is

(Archimedes the geometer).

Enlarged views:

   600 dpi, 2800 x 3440 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 3132 kilobytes
   300 dpi, 1400 x 1720 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 1226 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 700 x 860 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 317 kilobytes
   75 dpi, 350 x 430 pixels, 256 grayscales jpeg, 101 kilobytes

Antique engraving of an apocryphal coin depicting Archimedes.

Enlarged views:

   1200 dpi, 1200 x 1200 pixels, black & white gif, 31 kilobytes
   600 dpi, 600 x 600 pixels, black & white gif, 12 kilobytes
   300 dpi, 300 x 300 pixels, black & white gif, 5 kilobytes
   150 dpi, 150 x 150 pixels, 256 grayscales gif, 10 kilobytes

Engraving from the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology.

The print artist was Charles Paul Landon (1760-1826) and the graphic measures 11.2 x 7.8 centimeters.

Go to the web site of the Dibner Library for an enlarged view of this engraving (601 x 1000 pixels, 180 kilobytes).

Oil painting of Archimedes by the Italian artist Domenico Fetti (1589-1624). It was painted about 1620 and measures 98 x 73.5 centimeters. It is now located in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden, Germany).

An image with comments can be found at the web site of The Archimedes Project (524 x 631 pixels, 119 kilobytes).

Another image with comments can be found at the Web Gallery of Art (750 x 1007 pixels, 113 kilobytes).

Oil painting of Archimedes by the Spanish artist Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652). It was painted in 1630 and measures 125 x 81 centimeters. It is now located in the Museo del Prado (Madrid, Spain).

Enlarged Views:

352 x 480 pixels,
1457 x 1985 pixels, color jpeg,
color jpeg, 30 kilobytes
269 kilobytes

An image with comments can be found at the Web Gallery of Art (578 x 928 pixels, 83 kilobytes).