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The image we have today of the ancient scholar owes much to the classicistic ideals of the 19th century. This concept of cool distance and noble gravity is contradicted sharply by such a painting as Ribera's Archimedes: the great physicist, mathematician and natural scientist is shown here as a toothless old Spaniard. His weathered, wrinkled face has none of the marbled pallor of scholarship. In one thin hand, he holds a pile of papers and in the other a compass. His nails are dirty, his dress unkempt, and an old cloak is thrown carelessly over his undershirt, open to reveal his chest. Archimedes looks at us with a broad grin, and seems as close to the everyday life of Ribera's contemporaries as the artist's paintings of the saints. We find no monumental dignity here, only the dignity of a strong personality.
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