Galileo in gesprek met twee oude mannen 1632

This etching, created by Stefano della Bella in 1632, depicts the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei in conversation with two older men. The image is a frontispiece for Galileo's "Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems", a book that supported the Copernican theory of heliocentrism. The etching is housed in the Rijksmuseum and showcases della Bella's masterful use of line and detail to create a sense of realism and drama in a relatively small format. It is a powerful visual representation of the intellectual debates surrounding scientific discovery in the 17th century.