Portret van Isaac Newton 1847

This is Joseph Schubert's portrait of Isaac Newton, an engraving held at the Rijksmuseum. Notice how Newton is captured here in a way that elevates him, almost to the status of a saint or sage. Consider the vestments, the long flowing hair – these symbols of wisdom and authority echo throughout history. We see them in depictions of philosophers from ancient Greece, and later, in the Renaissance portraits of powerful thinkers. This image connects Newton to a lineage of intellectual giants. But these symbols never remain static. They evolve. Here, they represent not just wisdom, but scientific authority, a new form of power in the modern age. By connecting Newton with these classical motifs, Schubert taps into our collective memory, inviting us to see Newton as more than a scientist, but a figure of almost mythical proportions. These symbols, constantly resurfacing, remind us that history is not linear, but cyclical.