Abstract

Our 'view' of great philosophers is very often determined by the iconographical tradition. Thus our view of the person Descartes is based, not least, on the well-known portrait in the Louvre in Paris, presumably a copy of a Frans-Hals painting, that shows a rather grim and disdainful Descartes. This view is contrasted here with portraits from Groningen and Copenhagen , which are almost unknown among philosophers and which present us with a rather mellow and affable Descartes. These paintings are considered in the context of other Descartes-portraits