Started: june 5, 2005
Last Update: june 7, 2005
The Clergymen
Introduction
It was not until a close inspection of the Academy members, that I realized there were more
clergymen than I had assumed. Apart from the obvious 'man in blue' (Du Hamel), 'man in black'
(Picard) and the man right of Huygens (Mariotte?), I noticed two other men wearing
skullcaps, indicating they too were men of the cloth.
Number four is the elderly man situated the left of the clock. Of number five
other one we only have a rear view, showing just a skullcap and some hair. I had
already nominated this the worst portrait in the picture. Assuming these
are all actual clergymen, we now have to account for the presence of five
clergymen. A likely clergyman to appear in this picture is abbe Jean Gallois (1632-1707),
as for the last clergyman I have no idea at the moment. Also the previous
identification by elimination of Mariotte has to be reconsidered, as
Gallois is considerably younger than either Mariotte, Picard or Duhamel.