PSM V25 D300 Averroes

This line engraving depicts the head and shoulders of Averroes in profile. He is shown wearing a large, wrapped turban and a dark garment, with a focused expression as he leans forward to observe a demonstration or text. The image is a 19th-century reproduction of a figure from the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

Averroes was the primary mediator of Aristotelian philosophy to the Latin West through his extensive commentaries. His presence in the School of Athens acknowledges the vital role of Islamic scholarship in the preservation and development of the natural philosophy that underpinned Renaissance thought.