NOSTRADAMUS - PORTRAIT Portrayal of the seer, Michel Nostradamus, predicting the future, or 'writing History which is at once predicted and judged'. Hand coloured lithograph of 1862, printed for the Abb?Torn? one of the important nineteenth century commentators on Nostradamus. The print was sold independently of Torn?books on Nostradamus. The picture portrays the Abb?staring in adoration at Nostradamus, whose head is illumined (presumably as the source of his inspiration, or prophetic power) by a ray of light emitted from a radiant Masonic triangle containing the Tetragrammaton, or four-letter name of God in Hebrew. This symbolism might be connected with the recognition that Nostradamus was from a Provencal family of Jews that had been forced to convert to Christianity. Behind the heads of the couples are identifiable portraits of the great men and women (the majority of whom were French) about whom Nostradamus is supposed to have written. The letterpress at the foot of the print helps identification of these portraits, and affords an indication of the quatrain in which (in Torn?s view) the individuals were specifically mentioned, or implicated.