Nicolaus Copernicus is known that Copernicus knew Polish on a par with German and Latin. Historian Michael Burleigh describes the nationality debate as a "totally insignificant battle" between German and Polish scholars during the interwar period. Polish astronomer Konrad Rudnicki calls the discussion a "fierce scholarly quarrel in ... times of nationalism" and describes Copernicus as an inhabitant of a German-speaking territory that belonged to Poland, himself being of mixed Polish-German extraction. Czesław Miłosz describes the debate as an "absurd" projection of a modern understanding of nationality onto Renaissance people, who identified with their home territories rather than with a nation. Similarly,
Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God which he portrayed in the ironic self-Portrait (he would finish "Astronomer Copernicus..." in a new studio in early 1873). The organizers of the festivities in Kraków were not supportive of Matejko's endeavour, and did not plan to display his painting during the official festivities. The German council of Toruń approached Matejko with an offer to buy it, but he refused, probably motivated by Polish patriotism, preferring instead to organize his own exhibition in Kraków. He was able to organize a display in February, in Kraków's City Council building, the Wielopolski Palace; profits from the display were donated to charity. The