Vincenzo Coronelli, Celestial Globe Gores (Paris, 1693; reprint ca. 1800)
Coronelli, a Franciscan theologian and astronomer who worked in both Italy and France was an influential maker of celestial and terrestrial maps and globes. To make a globe, craftsmen printed sheets of map sections, called gores, which were then hand-colored, cut out and glued onto a wood and paper-maché base. There was no clear boundary between books and instruments.
These 9 gores were part of an original set produced at the request of Coronelli’s Accademia Cosmografica to make a 3.5 foot diameter celestial globe. The copper plates used to make these gores were designed by Arnold Deuvez and engraved by Jean-Baptiste Nolin in 1693 in Paris. These 1693 plates were a revision of those which Coronelli used in 1688 in Venice. At the time, Coronelli’s 1688 globe was the largest and most accurate celestial globe in Europe. The Latin and French legends distinguish this 1693 Paris reprint from the 1688 Venetian gores, which were in Italian. The 9 beautiful gores on display are reprints of the Paris reprint; that is, they were printed in 1800 using the actual 1693 Parisian plates. (15 gores are missing out of the original set of 24.)
In a related book, the Epitome Cosmographica (which was displayed at the National Weather Center), Coronelli explained how to use celestial and terrestrial globes and his techniques for constructing them. The Epitome describes how Coronelli famously constructed a pair of terrestrial and celestial globes for Louis XIV which measured more than 12 feet in diameter.
Galileo's World Exhibition Location
Source: History of Science Collections
Gallery: The Sky at Night
Section: The Sky at Night
Section Number: 1
Object Number: 11
Subject Area(s): Astronomy, Mathematics, History of the Book, Art, Scientific Instruments
Time Period: 17th Century
Region(s): Europe, Italy, France
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