Portrait of René Descartes  1649

This small painting has been harshly treated. Someone has scratched zigzagging lines across it. But why such vandalism? Perhaps because it depicts a philosopher and mathematician who introduced many new ideas. [br] [b]Provocative thinking[/b] Even though the portrait is only a painted sketch for an etching by Jonas Suyderhoef, and possibly for a painted life-sized portr...