image courtesy of Jagiellonian University Museum Collegium Maius<\/em><\/p>\nThe painting depicting Nicolaus Copernicus surrounded by astronomical instruments and gazing up into the sky with inspiration, was created in 1873 to mark the 400th<\/sup> anniversary of the birth of the great astronomer and Toru\u0144\u2019s most famous resident. The display of the work, however, was not included in the official programme of the anniversary celebrations that were then held in Cracow. Matejko<\/strong> then decided to show Astronomer Copernicus\u2026<\/span><\/em> by himself, in the Cracow city council hall and then outside Galicia in Warsaw and Vienna. The painting raised tremendous excitement and interest, and it was very soon purchased with public contributions and handed over to the Jagiellonian University, which owns it to this day. Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God<\/span><\/em> is undoubtedly the most famous painting of the eminent Toru\u0144<\/strong> resident, which has been shaping our perception of Copernicus for 150 years. In his work, Matejko<\/strong> relied on the surviving images of Copernicus, while looking for a model to match them. The choice fell on the artist\u2019s friend Henryk Levittoux, a physician and art lover. The nineteen-year-old nephew of the artist\u2019s wife, Antoni Serafi\u0144ski, also posed for the painting.<\/p>\nThe Toru\u0144<\/strong> exhibition will be enriched with sketches by Jan Matejko<\/strong> that are part of the character study of Nicolaus Copernicus, as well as a unique, very amusing cartoon in which Matejko<\/strong> himself showed the conditions under which the painting was created. The Burghers\u2019 Hall will also feature a large-format screen with a NASA film showing the Sun – the focal point of Nicolaus Copernicus\u2019 theory.<\/p>\nThe exhibition is curated by Marek \u017bydowicz<\/strong>, and coordinated by Agnieszka Swoi\u0144ska, Micha\u0142 Prewysz-Kwinto <\/strong>and Dominika Krawa\u0144ska<\/strong>. The exhibition is being held courtesy of the staff of the District Museum in Toru\u0144<\/strong>. The organizer of the exhibition is the Tumult Foundation<\/strong>. The main partner of the event is the Local Government of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship<\/strong>. The partners are the District Museum in Toru\u0144<\/strong>, Jagiellonian University in Cracow<\/strong> and the National Museum in Cracow<\/strong>. The Festival was subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage<\/strong> and the City of Toru\u0144<\/strong>. The organizers would like to thank the Director of the District Museum in Toru\u0144 Mrs Aleksandra Mierzejewska<\/strong>, Professor Krzysztof Stopka \u2013 Director of the Jagiellonian University Museum<\/strong>, Professor Andrzej Szczerski \u2013 Director of the National Museum in Cracow<\/strong>, as well as the Mayor of the City of Toru\u0144 Mr Micha\u0142 Zaleski<\/strong> and the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship Mr Piotr Ca\u0142becki<\/strong> for all their help and support.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archive.camerimage.pl\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/10\/exhibition-partners-580px.jpg\")
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