Haven't had much time for art this year due to grad school and dozens of other soul-destroying things but every-so-often I get the chance to squeeze something in.

Did this back in April when I was supposed to be writing essays - it was originally intended to be something bigger but that didn't happen.

This is probably my favourite Copernicus drawing to date just because it best fits the way I see him in my head - stately, kind, with a sort of quiet humour. Could be totally missing the mark with that though. It's unbelievably frustrating how little information we have on his life and personality. There are only sixteen or so extant letters from him and eleven of those are written to Bishop Dantiscus, a controlling, egotistic man who fancied himself quite a great astronomer. Copernicus was never on particularly good terms with Dantiscus and his letters to the Bishop have a chilly formality to them. Consequently, he is generally perceived as cold and aloof by scholars. But in contrast, his Dedication to Pope Paul III in De Revolutionibus seems to have an earnest and humble quality to it mixed with a slightly self-conscious humour. That is the version I'm going with.

Anyways, the best we can do is speculate.

Texture from the ever-awesome =resurgere