PORTRAITS OF LEEUWENHOEK 347 
Haaxman had it lithographed'—by A. J. Wendel, not very 
successfully—as a frontispiece for his biography (1875). 
(b) A mezzotint engraving. (See the Frontispiece.) This 
differs from the painting chiefly in the following particulars: 
the head is turned to the right, knees to the left; and 
Leeuwenhoek holds a microscope in his left hand (not com- 
passes in his right). The whole picture is, in fact, reversed. 
On the table, instead of the diploma, there is a spray of oak- 
leaves with galls” on them, and a large magnifying-glass 
with a handle. A curtain hangs behind the head, and the 
distant landscape is missing. Below is engraved a Dutch 
inscription with some verses signed “‘ Constanter ” (the pen- 
name of Constantijn Huygens pater). The mezzotint is 
signed “J. Verkolje pina. fec. et exc. A°. 1686.”* (This is 
important, as it confirms the date of the painting.) 
Several prints, at least, of this engraving are in existence. 
Dr van Kaathoven, of Leyden, formerly possessed one, which 
afterwards passed into the possession of Mr P. M. Beelaerts, 
who in turn bequeathed it to the town of Delft." (It is now 
in the Gemeentemusewm.) But the best impression which I 
have seen is in the private collection of Mr George H. Gabb 
(London), from whose copy my frontispiece has been repro- 
duced. Other reproductions of the mezzotint (from other 
originals) have previously been published in Opuscula Selecta 
Neerlandicorum, Vol. I (1907); by Locy (1910, p. 79) and 
Cole (1926, frontispiece); and in the Deutsche Medizinische 
Wochenschrift (1911; No. 22, supplement). This last plate— 
included in that journal’s ‘‘ Bildersammlung aus der Geschichte 
der Medizin’’—is a fine large half-tone reproduction, but bears 
1 This poor lithograph has unfortunately been copied (instead of the 
equally accessible original) by several well-meaning popular writers—such 
as Baumann (1915) in Holland, and Mrs Williams-Ellis (1929) in England. 
2 Letter 50, 14 May 1686 (published in Dutch and Latin works) contains 
a description of L.’s observations on oak-galls, and its date affords confirmation 
of the date of the engraving. 
3 Not 1685, as stated by Haaxman (1875, p. 187). 
4 Of. Haaxman (1875) and Veldman (1898, p. 74). I have seen this 
impression, which is fairly good. 
* I am greatly indebted to Mr Gabb for his permission to copy the 
original in his collection, and for the trouble which he has taken to insure 
its accurate photographic reproduction. 
