Volume Ii Part 2 (2/2)
In addition to the Habrecht terrestrial globe in The Hispanic Society's collection, two other copies are known, which likewise are undated. One of these belongs to the Biblioteca Comunale of Sondrio, and the other to the Archivo Munic.i.p.ale of Asti.
Of the celestial globes of Habrecht four copies have been located; one being in the Biblioteca Comunale of Sondrio, in a good state of preservation; one in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nurnberg, wanting, however, the original mounting, having its map engraved, as stated in a legend, by Jacob von Heyden et Johann Christoph Weigel; one in the Biblioteca Comunale of Asti; one in the Royal Museum of Ca.s.sel.
It is strikingly evident that Habrecht followed in the main the work of Willem Jansz. Blaeu, and Jodocus Hondius for his celestial globes. As the year 1619 was selected as the one in which star positions were to be recorded, it is probable, as intimated above, that these globes were constructed in that year. Each of the globes referred to is reported as retaining the brilliant coloring which had been laid on by hand.
Garcia de Cespedes, writing in 1606,[56] calls attention to a globe, concerning which nothing farther is known, referring to it as a ”Globillo que hizo en Portugal aquel grau Piloto que se emborrachana cuyo nombre no me acuerdo.” ”A small globe constructed in Portugal by a great pilot, whose name is unknown, but who was a great drunkard.”
In the year 1893 Baron Nordenskiold presented to the Royal Geographical Society a facsimile in gores of a globe map, which fact is noted in that society's Journal. The globe is one of silver, bearing the author and date legend ”Johann Hauer. 1620.” The record tells of its having been presented in the year 1632 to Gustavus Adolphus and that it is now one of the treasures of the National Museum of Stockholm. The engraved map is of the Hondius or the Mercator type presenting in the main the best geographical knowledge of the time. Its many legends are in the Latin language; the lettering, though small, is easily legible. The engraver has adorned the seas with s.h.i.+ps and with such marine animals as are frequently to be found in the maps of the period.[57]
It has been previously noted that the employment of engraved gore maps in globe construction was not received with general favor in Italy in the sixteenth century, although Mercator's globes were copied to some extent, as were those of De Mongenet. Toward the close of the century, the preference for ma.n.u.script globes, or for engraved bronze or copper globes seems gradually to have yielded to a belief in the more practical method of construction which had established itself in the North.
Originality, however, does not appear to have been a striking feature of Italian endeavor in this method of globe making. There was an occasional manifestation of independence and individuality, it is true, but in general there was a disposition to copy, and the early seventeenth century furnishes us an example in the reissue by Giuseppe de Rossi of the work of Jodocus Hondius, but without credit, as has been previously observed.
Among those who attained distinction in Italy in the first half of the seventeenth century in the construction of globes having engraved gore maps, may be named Mattheus Greuter. He was born in Stra.s.sburg in the year 1556, where he learned designing and engraving. In early life he went to Lyons in France where he carried on his work, but later he removed to Avignon, adding to his art in this city that of type cutting.
We next find him in Rome, busily engaged in the work of engraving, in which he had become exceedingly proficient, winning for himself a high place among the Italian artists of his day. Map engraving, we learn, early claimed his attention, and among his masterpieces in this field may be mentioned a large map of Italy. Of this work no copy is at present known, but it is thought that it probably served Magini as a model for his ”Italia” which was published in the year 1620. It could not have been long after he had taken up his residence in Rome, where he became a naturalized citizen, that he began the preparation of his first terrestrial globe, which he issued in the year 1632. So well did he perform his work that he is ent.i.tled to rank with the leading globe makers of the Netherlands.
An excellent example of this first issue may be found in the Museum of The Hispanic Society of America (Fig. 102), this being one of the most valuable in its large collection. It has a diameter of 50 cm., and is mounted on a wooden base having four feet, which, though evidently very old, is clearly not the original base. It is furnished with a narrow wooden horizon circle which is not graduated, and the calendar and other representations, which one usually finds pasted on this circle in early globes, are entirely wanting. The meridian circle of iron, likewise, is not graduated, and like the wooden base is not a part of the original mounting. The sphere itself is remarkably well preserved, there being scarcely a noticeable injury to its surface save the slight discoloration of age. The engraved gore map covering the papier-mache ball, which is of very light construction, is composed of twelve sections, or rather of twenty-four, since each of the sections is cut at the equator, and the poles are covered with small circular discs.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 102. Terrestrial Globe of Mattheus Greuter, 1632.]
In the south Atlantic and near the great southern continent, in a neat cartouch surmounted by the coat of arms of the Boncompagni family of Bologna, is the following dedication: ”Ill.u.s.trissimo et Excellentissimo Principi D. Iacobo Boncompagno Sorae Arcisque Duci Marchioni Vignolae Aquini Comiti Dno suo colendissimo. Mattheus Greuter Humill. obseqii ergo. D. D.” ”To the Most Ill.u.s.trious and Excellent Prince Lord Jacob Boncompagni, Duke of Sora and Arce, Marquis of Vignola and Count of Aquino, his Most Wors.h.i.+pful Lord Mattheus Greuter with humble obedience dedicates (this globe).” Iacopo Boncompagni, to whom Greuter dedicated his work, belonged to a famous family of Bologna.[58] He was born in Sora in the year 1613 and died in the year 1636. It was his great-grandfather, Hugo, who, in the year 1572, at the age of seventy, became Pope Gregory XIII, and who immortalized himself through his reform of the calendar. Iacopo, the grandfather of that member of the family to whom Greuter dedicated his globe, was in position, at the time of the elevation of his father to the Papacy, to have bestowed upon him great honors and riches. He was nominated Castellan of St. Angelo, and shortly thereafter, receiving the t.i.tle General of the Holy Church, was sent to Ancona with a commission to defend the maritime regions of the papal states. He was soon thereafter admitted to the n.o.bility of Rome, of the Kingdom of Naples, and of Venice. Through the riches of the Papacy he was able to purchase from Alfonso II of Este the Marquisate of Vignola for seventy-five thousand Roman scudi, the Duchy of Sora and of Arce from the Duke of Urbino for one hundred and ten thousand ducats, and the lands of Arpino and Roccasecca, together with the County of Aquino from Alfonso of Avalon, Marquis of Guasto, for one hundred and forty thousand ducats.
In the austral continent, and on the opposite side of the globe to that on which the dedication is placed is an address to the reader which is inscribed in a neat cartouch, reading ”In ista quam exhibemus terreni globi descriptione omnium regionum iuxta et insularum quotquot hactenus ab Argonautis tam Lusitaniae quam aliarum gentium Naucleris visae et notatae loca in suo secundu longitudinem et lat.i.tudinem situ suma sedulitate et industria disposita invenies quae res non solum Geographiae studiosis jucuda, verum etiam ijs, qui terras longe dissitas et sub alio sole calentes frequentent, maxime utilis futura est. Huc igitur laborem nostrum ut tam gratis animis acceptatis sedulitate a n.o.bis est obitus ex aequo omnes rogatos volo. Mattheus Greuter auctor.
Excudit Roma Anno MDCx.x.xII.” ”On this globe which we exhibit, you will find all the regions and islands as far as they have hitherto been seen and noted by navigators of Portugal and of other nations, set down in their proper positions of lat.i.tude and longitude with the greatest care and industry. This will be pleasing not only to students of geography but it will be especially useful to those who visit far distant lands (which are) warmed by another sun. I hope therefore that all those whom I ask will accept this labor of ours with as much grat.i.tude as we have employed care upon it. Matthew Greuter maker. Made in Rome in the year 1632.” This address agrees with that on the Blaeu terrestrial globe of 1622 except that Blaeu wrote ”vel etiam ab aliarum gentium ...,” whereas Greuter writes ”tam Lusitaniae quam aliarum gentium ...,” and Blaeu inserted a reference to the loxodromes he had drawn on his map, which loxodromes Greuter, omitting, had therefore no occasion for such reference. In the inscription referring to the prime meridian, Greuter again borrowed from Blaeu with scarcely an alteration, as he did in his reference to recent discoveries made for the purpose of finding a way to the East by the North. Blaeu's legend in the vicinity of the Tiborone Island, that near the Cape of Good Hope, and that near the Strait of Magellan were all copied literally by Greuter, and likewise that referring to the Le Maire Strait.
Greuter employed, in general, for the names of the regions of the Old World and for the seas, the Latin language, though he wrote ”Mar del Nort” for the Atlantic and ”Mar del Zur” for the Pacific. For the names of the New World he used the Spanish or the Portuguese, but occasionally the English, the French, the Dutch, or the language native to the region bearing the name. For the names of the cities he generally employed the language of the country or the Italian language.
Numerous s.h.i.+ps are represented sailing the seas, and the pictures of sea monsters are many. A few wind roses adorn the map, but, as before stated, loxodrome lines, regarded in general at that time as of great importance to sailors who had occasion to make use of the chart or the globe, were omitted by Greuter.
Hudson Bay, which is left nameless, is represented without a definite coast line in the north, but through a wide and extended channel it opens into ”Fretum Davis.” The St. Lawrence River appears to drain a lake, which may be taken from its location to be Lake Ontario; but the remaining four Great Lakes appear as one great inland sea with an outlet of somewhat uncertain character northward toward Hudson Bay. The geographical representations in this region are of special historical interest, as are indeed the geographical records in the several sections of North America, particularly in the South and the West.
As a companion to the terrestrial globe of the year 1632, Greuter prepared a celestial globe of the same dimensions, and with similar mountings, which he issued in the year 1636. He gives due credit, in one of his legends, to Tycho Brahe and to Willem Blaeu as sources of information for his representation of the stars and the several constellations, following, in particular, Blaeu's globe of 1622. His explanatory legend reads ”In hoc coelesti Globo notantur omnes stellae fixie an annum 1636 accomodatae q iuxta observatione n.o.b. viri Tychonis Brahe, in max illo Iansonii, ano 1622 edito, positae sunt additis stellis q a peritiss? nauclero Petro Theod: circa Pol. Aust.
notatae su novisque Asterismis et stellis min. apparetib', ab aliis sum studio observatis, omnia in Philomatico gratia copiosa delineata. Romae, 1636, M. Greuter.” ”In this celestial globe are noted all the fixed stars accommodated to the year 1636, which are placed (on the map) according to the observations of the n.o.ble Tycho Brahe in that great (work) of Jansson (Blaeu), edited in the year 1622, to which are added the stars noted by the skilful navigator Peter Theodori around the south pole and the new and less apparent stars observed by others with great zeal. All these have been represented for the use of the student. At Rome, 1636. M. Greuter.” As to how much he thought should be added to or subtracted from the longitude of the fixed stars each year, to the end of taking due note of the precession of the equinoxes, he copied Plancius literally. The equatorial circle, the tropics, the polar circles, the equinoxes, the solst.i.tial colures, the ecliptic, and twelve meridians are all represented. The constellations include the Ptolemaic, with the addition of those recently discovered and named in the southern hemisphere. The figures of the several constellations are well drawn, having their names in Latin or in Arabic, and are artistically colored in most of the copies of the globe known.
Greuter's globes all appear to have been made in the same size, and they have the same general construction, with the exceptions noted below.
A pair of these globes, that is, of the terrestrial, of the year 1632 and the celestial of 1636, may be found in the following public and private libraries and museums in addition to those above mentioned: Scuole Comunale of Ancona; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Bologna; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Camarino; in the Seminario Vescovile of Carpi; in the Biblioteca Comunale and also in the Museo Agabiti of Fabriano; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Ferrara; in the Biblioteca di Santa Maria Nuova of Florence; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Gubbio; in the Biblioteca Governativo of Lucca; in the Biblioteca Capitolari of Reggio; in the Museo Astronomico, also in the Biblioteca Chigi and the Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele of Rome; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Sanseverino; in the Biblioteca Gonzaga of Mantua; in the Biblioteca Universitario of Messina; in the Biblioteca n.a.z.ionale of Milan; in the Museo Civico of Modena; in the Museo di Fisica and also in the Seminario Vescovile of Padua; in the Biblioteca Palatina of Parma and a pair in the possession of Joseph Baer & Company of Frankfurt, 1914. A copy of the terrestrial globe of the year 1632, in addition to the one described above as belonging to The Hispanic Society of America, may be found in the Biblioteca Comunale of Ba.s.sano; in the Ateneo of Brescia; in the Museo di Fisica of Catania; in the Archivo di Stato of Venice. In private libraries copies of these globes may be found in the possession of the General Antonio Gandolfi of Bologna; of Sr. P. Marezio Bazolle, once belonging to the Counts of Piloni of Belluno; of Professor Luigi Bailo of Treviso; of Sr. D. Luigi Belli of Genga. A copy of the celestial globe of the year 1636 may be found in the Biblioteca Comunale of Serra S. Quirico, and also a copy in the library of Mr. W. B.
Thompson of Yonkers, N. Y.
It does not appear that Greuter himself issued other editions of his globes. His death occurred in the year 1638, and in this same year what may be called a second edition of his globes of the years 1632 and 1636, having the same dimensions, was offered to the public. It has been noted above that one Giuseppe de Rossi of Milan reprinted in Rome, in the year 1615, the Hondius terrestrial and celestial globes of 1601, making but slight alterations in the same but giving the impression that he was the original author. It was perhaps a near relative of this Milanese engraver and printer, Giovanni Battista de Rossi, who in the year 1638 reprinted in Rome the Greuter globes with but few changes, none of which can be considered of special import save the introduction of his own name as printer instead of that of Greuter. It may, however, be noted that both globes are dated 1636, that below the Tropic of Capricorn on the terrestrial globe is the legend ”Si stampa da Gio Batta de Rossi Milanese in Piazza Navona. Roma,” and that the t.i.tle legend of the celestial reads ”In hac coelesti sphaera stellae fixae majori quam hactenus numero et accuratiori industria delineantur novis Asterismis in Philomaticom gratiam de integro additis: quae omnia secundum Astronomorum Principis Tychonis Brahe et aliorum observationem verae suae longitudini ac lat.i.tudini ad annum Christi 1636 rest.i.tuta sunt.
Romae Matteus Greuter exc. 1636.” ”In this celestial globe are shown the fixed stars in greater number than previously, and with greater care and industry, the new constellations being added for the sake of the student. All these, according to the observations of the Prince of Astronomers, Tycho Brahe, and likewise the observations of others, have been a.s.signed to their proper lat.i.tude and longitude for the year of Christ 1636. Made at Rome by Mattheus Greuter 1636.”
A pair of these globes of the second edition may be found in the private library of Cav. Giampieri-Carletti of Piticchio in the Marche; in a private library of Ancona (owner unknown); in the Seminario Vescovile of Toscanella. A copy of the terrestrial globe may be found in the Seminario Vescovile of Macerata; and of the celestial in the library of Count Francesco Conestabile of Perugia.
The Hispanic Society of America has in its collection a unique globe which is clearly the work of Mattheus Greuter (Fig. 103), although issued by Giovanni Battista de Rossi, as is attested by the legend, ”Si Stampa da Gio Batta de Rossi Milanese in Piazza Navona Roma.” This legend, appearing in a neat cartouch, occupies the same position in the southern hemisphere, near the prime meridian, as that in which one finds the dedication of his first issue, but that part of the cartouch in the earlier issue showing the coat of arms of the Boncompagni family is here left blank. The t.i.tle of the first issue is repeated save in the concluding words. Here we read ”In iste quam exhibimus ... Mattheus Greuter auctor. Excudit Romae 1638.” Other legends, such as those in the northern part of North America beginning, ”Post apertum a Lusitanis ...,” that southeast of Africa beginning, ”Quam longitudinis initium ...,” and the briefer ones referring to the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, to the expedition of Schouten, and to that of Magellan, are identical in the two editions. It, however, is to be noted that many of the briefer legends appearing in the first edition are wanting in this of the year 1638, and that in the latter the place names are greatly reduced in number. It is further particularly worthy of note that the North American continent in this later issue is very much altered in its outline. California appears as an island, ”Insula California,” and is separated from the great northwestern section of North America, which is likewise represented, though somewhat doubtfully, as an island, by the ”Stretto di Anian,” while the ”Estreito de Jeso” separates the New World from Asia. The globe ball has a diameter of 26 cm. Its mounting is of wood. It has a broad horizon circle, on which are the representations of the signs of the zodiac, the calendar, the Roman and the Italian names of the winds or directions appearing in concentric circles, the whole being supported on a base consisting of four exquisitely carved and rather heavy support columns which are joined below by carved cross bracings. Its meridian circle is a comparatively recent and very clumsy subst.i.tute of wood for the original which doubtless was of bra.s.s. It is very seldom that one finds a globe of a date so early as is this which is so well preserved. The engraved map has the freshness of a new and unused print, excepting a very slight yellow tinge which is the contribution of age. On this globe map may be found one of the earliest attempts to give boundary lines to territorial divisions in the New World such as ”Virginia,” ”La Florida,” ”Nuovo Mexico,” ”N. Amsterdam,”
”N. Suetia.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 103. Terrestrial Globe of Mattheus Greuter, 1638.]
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