Portret van Gemma Frisius 1557

This 1557 engraving by Jan van Stalburch, titled “Portret van Gemma Frisius,” depicts the famed mathematician and cartographer Gemma Frisius holding a terrestrial globe. The portrait, housed in the Rijksmuseum, highlights Frisius’s scientific pursuits by including a variety of tools and instruments, such as a compass, a sundial, and a celestial globe. The inscription on the scroll to the right of Frisius reads, “This image of Gemma Frisius died in the year 1555.” This inscription confirms the engraving’s function as a commemorative portrait, created to honor Frisius’s scientific legacy.