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SEBASTIANO RICCI (BELLUNO 1659-VENICE 1734)
A design for a monument to Newton
c.1728RCIN 907124
Sir Isaac Newton’s treatises on science and mathematics were of great interest across Europe, including to Joseph Smith and his circle. After Newton’s death in 1727, Sebastiano made this speculative (and unexecuted) design for a monument in his honour, with his bust resting on a sarcophagus supported by Time and flanked by personifications of either History or Fame, and Science or Astronomy.