Volume Ii Part 7 (1/2)
Pairs of his globes are very numerous which include the terrestrial of the year 1688, now and then with some modifications, and the celestial of the year 1693, these being usually, but not in all instances dated, the latter being the Paris issue or apparently a slightly modified Venetian edition of the same. It must be admitted that it is not easy to cla.s.sify the copies of his globes which followed his first issue of the year 1688, but which have the same dimensions. In not a few of these provision was made for a special dedication, the cartouch for such dedication being often left blank, to be filled when occasion seemed to offer for the bestowal of the special honor. Some of these globes containing such special dedication are known, to which reference is made below.
Examples of Coronelli's work belonging to this group may be found in the following libraries or museums: In the Landesmuseum of Zurich (Fig.
114); in the Seminario Vescovile of Aversa; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Bologna; in the Archivo di Stato of Bologna; in the Biblioteca Privato of Professor Liuzzi of Bologna; in the Convento dell' Osservanza of Bologna; in the Museo di Strumenti Antichi of Florence; in the Museo Civico of Genoa; a copy of the celestial in the British Museum of London; in the Biblioteca Brancacciana of Naples; in the Biblioteca n.a.z.ionale of Naples; in the Biblioteca n.a.z.ionale of Palermo; in the Biblioteca Antoniana of Padua; in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris; in the Biblioteca Cla.s.sense of Ravenna; in the Biblioteca Lancisiana of Rome; in the Accademia delle Scienze of Turin; in the Seminario Patriarcale of Venice; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Vicenza; of the terrestrial in the Royal Library of Madrid. The Vicenza examples, also those in the Archivo di Stato of Bologna and in the Biblioteca n.a.z.ionale of Palermo, are dedicated to the ”Eminentissimo e reverendissimo Principe” Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. The interesting brief legend, reading ”Alexander a Via Veronensis sculpsit” on the celestial globe, gives us clearly to understand that there were Venetian issues of that edition which made its first appearance in Paris under the auspices of the Societe Gallica. The gores of this issue Coronelli printed in his 'Atlante Veneto,' Volume XI.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 114. Terrestrial Globe of P. Vincenzo Coronelli, 1688.]
In the year 1696 Coronelli made an extensive European tour which carried him as far as England, an account of which he published in Venice in the following year under the t.i.tle 'Viaggio de Venezia fino in Inghilterra.'
In this work the author describes an edition of his globes which he referred to as having a diameter of ”un piede e mezzo,” or about 48 cm., prepared in London and dedicated to the English King William III, of which it has been possible to locate several examples. A particularly fine copy of the terrestrial may be found in the collection of The Hispanic Society of America (Fig. 115), agreeing in all its details with the other copies, in so far, at least, as the information obtained seems to indicate. In an elaborately decorated cartouch near the south polar region is the dedicatory inscription, reading ”Glob.u.m hujusmodi Terraqueum Guglielmo invictissimo ac potentissimo Magnae Britaniae etc.
Regi Dicat, Vocat. consecrat. Pater, Magister Vincentius Coronelli Mon.
Con. S. Francisci Serenissimae Venetorum Reipublicae Cosmographus MDCLx.x.xXVI. Londini.” ”This terrestrial globe, Father and Master Vincentio Coronelli, Brother of the Franciscan Order and Cosmographer of the Venetian Republic, dedicates, names and consecrates to William III, the Invincible and Mighty King of Great Britain.” Not far from the above is a somewhat elaborate representation of the king's coat of arms with the motto ”Hony soit qui mal y pense. Je maintienderay.” Its mounting consists of a narrow graduated meridian circle of wood which is made to pa.s.s, in the usual manner, through a horizon circle of wood, the outer edge of which is octagonal. The upper surface of this horizon circle is covered with an engraved horizon sheet giving within concentric circles the names of the zodiacal constellations, names of the months with the names of the prominent saints, the names of the princ.i.p.al winds, and of the princ.i.p.al directions in Italian. It has a supporting base of four artistically turned columns with binding crossbars extending from each post to a central circular plate 17 cm. in diameter, carrying the post through a slot in which the meridian circle is made to pa.s.s. The north pole is topped with a thin pasteboard hour circle and pointer. The globe map is composed of twelve gores which are truncated in lat.i.tude 80 degrees both north and south, the polar s.p.a.ces being covered with circular discs, and are cut on the line of the equator. The sphere is exceedingly light in weight, being composed of papier-mache. In every particular the globe is one remarkably well preserved, and is one of the finest examples of early globe making in the society's collection.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115. Terrestrial Globe of P. Vincenzo Coronelli, 1696.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115a. Terrestrial Globe of P. Vincenzo Coronelli, 1693.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115b. Celestial Globe of P. Vincenzo Coronelli, 1693.]
In geographical names the map records are very full, these being given either in Italian, Spanish, Latin, Dutch, English, or in the native language of the country in which they appear. Curiously enough in many instances the author appears to give his own peculiar spelling, approaching therein, to the best of his ability, the spelling suggested by the p.r.o.nunciation of the several names. Legends are exceedingly numerous, many of them recording incidents relating to certain expeditions or to certain discoveries, such as the expedition of Magellan; early expeditions along the west coast of North America, including reference to Cortes, Ulloa, Alarcon, Cabrillo, Guzman, Drake; expeditions to the East Indies, including that of Le Maire, Hoorn, Van Diemen, Chaumont, and others. Boundary lines of local regions, in both the Old and the New World are exceedingly numerous, which fact in itself gives a somewhat unique value to the map as of geographical and historical value. California appears as an island, and a great stretch of ocean appears between northwest North America and northeast Asia wherein is located land with indefinite outline marked, ”Terra de Jesso o Jeco, Yedco, Esso et Sesso Scoperta dagli Hollandesi l'anno 1643.” The map of North America is particularly of interest and value, especially for the region of the United States.
Pictures of s.h.i.+ps sailing the ocean, those of the oriental peoples as well as those of the occidental are numerous, as are also pictures representing seal fis.h.i.+ng, and pictures representing the methods of capturing polar bears and whales. It is interesting to note that loxodromic lines or sailing lines have disappeared from such maps, that the map and the chart are here seen to merge.
The celestial globe of this edition has practically the same dedication as the terrestrial, the word ”Terraqueum” alone being changed to ”Coelestem.” There is on this the following address: ”Amico Lettore.
Oltre ai molti Globi delineati dal P. Cosmografo Coronelli per Sovrani diversi di varie e vaste misure, ne ha ultimamente composti e stampati di cinque grandezze a pubblico beneficio, fra i quali i piu comodi ed esatti sono i presenti. I numeri che accompagnano le stelle calcolate all'epoca del 1700; cos l'altre notizie, ad uso dei medesimi Globi, vengono nel suo Epitome Cosmografico diffusamente spiegati.” ”Dear reader. Besides the many globes delineated by the cosmographer P.
Coronelli, for divers Sovereigns, he has recently composed and printed some in five sizes for the use of the public, among which the most convenient and exact are the present ones. The numbers that accompany the stars are calculated for the epoch 1700; moreover the other particulars for the use of these same globes are extensively developed in his Epitome Cosmografico.”
In the reference to the several constellations there is repeated, with but slight alteration, the statements made on his larger globes, the position of the fixed stars being referred to the year 1700.
Examples of the 1696 edition of Coronelli's globes may be found in the Seminario Vescovile of Finale; in the Biblioteca Franzoniana of Genoa; in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nurnberg; in the Biblioteca Comunale of Perugia; in the Museo Civico of Trieste; a copy of the terrestrial in the Biblioteca n.a.z.ionale of Florence, and one in the Certosa of Pisa; the unmounted gores of the celestial in the Museo Astronomico of Rome.
The globes of the year 1696 were reissued in the year 1699, with certain unimportant alterations. It may be noted that as in certain copies of the 1693 edition the cartouch designed for a dedicatory inscription was left blank, that the author might insert the name of the recipient whom he might choose to honor. So in his globes of the year 1699 he left a like blank s.p.a.ce, but in the terrestrial globe he inscribed what he evidently felt he should want to insert in each instance--a dedication in blank, as it were, reading ”D. D. D. Pater Magister Vincentius Coronelli Mon: Con: Francisci Serenissimae Venetorum Reipublicae Cosmographus MDCLx.x.xXIX.” One example has been located in which the name of the honored individual has been inserted, reading, in addition to the author and date as above, ”Ill.u.s.trissimo et Praexcelso n.o.bili Viro D. D.
Comiti Aloysio Paoluccio Militiae Sanctae Apostolicae Sedis in Piceno Praefecto,” this copy being in the Biblioteca Privato of Sr. Remigio Salotti of Modena. Copies of each of the 1699 issue may also be found in the Biblioteca Marucelliana of Florence; in the Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele of Rome; in the Biblioteca of the Marquis Piero Bargagli of Rome; a copy of the terrestrial in the Museo Astronomico of Rome, a copy of the same in the Biblioteca n.a.z.ionale of Florence, and a copy in the Certosa of Pisa.
In one of his own publications issued in Venice in the year 1697 Coronelli tells us of an edition of his celestial globe which he was preparing.[101] He announces ”To the Public” that the large celestial globe, three and one half feet in diameter, which he was then having reengraved and which would exhibit all of the artistic features of the Paris edition of 1693, would be one of superior excellence. He adds that the many corrections and additions, as the parts already completed clearly indicate, would make it one very exact, and its completion was promised before the end of the year 1698. This celestial globe was issued in Venice in the year 1699, edited, according to an inscribed legend, by Coronelli and the Academy of the Argonauts. We cannot with certainty locate a copy of this globe. Perhaps it may be found in one of the undated examples, now known, of the size designated.
The Abbot Gimma, to whom reference has been made, informs us that Coronelli constructed other globes, the same having diameters respectively six, four, and two inches, and in the 'Epitome Cosmografica' of the author, under the paragraph heading, ”Opere stampate dal Padre Coronelli,” we read that he constructed celestial and terrestrial globes three inches in diameter for the pocket. In Volume X of the 'Atlanta Veneto,' under the t.i.tle ”Globi del Coronelli,” the gores of these globes are reproduced, and from these reprints we are able to get certain information concerning them. But one pair of his six-inch globes has been located and none of the smaller size, this one pair being the unmounted gores, twelve in number for each globe, to be found in the British Museum. The terrestrial has the following dedication: ”Hos Globos Terraqueum ac Coelestem dicat et donat R. mo P.
D. Sigismundo Pollitio a Placentia Praeposito Generali Monarchorum Ermitorum S. Hyeronimi Congreg. Lombardiae P. M. Coronelli Cosmographus P.” ”These globes, a terrestrial and a celestial P. M. Coronelli gives and dedicates to the Rev. P. D. Sigismund Pollitus head of the congregation of Hermit Monks of St. Jerome of Lombardy. At Placentia.”
And the celestial has the following, ”R. mo P. D. Sigismundo Pollitio Praep. Generali Mon. Erem. S. Hyeron.” ”To the Rev. P. D. Sigismund Pollitus. General of the Hermit Monks of St. Jerome.” Three other inscriptions of the celestial globe read respectively ”Auct. P.
Vincentius Coronelli Cosmog. Publ.,” ”Stellae supput. fuerunt ad annum 1700,” and ”Venetiis. In Academiae Cosmog. Argon.”
Fiorini makes brief mention of a rather remarkable armillary sphere, cut out of a solid block of alabaster, now belonging to the Museo Civico of Siena.[102] It is neither signed nor dated, but was probably constructed toward the close of the seventeenth century.
It has two meridian circles, circles representing the tropics whose outer circ.u.mference is 66 cm., polar circles having a circ.u.mference of 21 cm., and circles representing the solst.i.tial colures and the equator, the latter having an outer circ.u.mference of 72 cm. All circles are graduated, but in the case of the polar circles the numbers of the degrees are not marked. In addition to the above-mentioned circles, there is one representing the zodiac which is exceedingly heavy, on which have been cut the signs of the several constellations and the names of the months.
This a.s.semblage of armillae is adjusted to revolve within a bra.s.s circle, the whole resting upon a base of alabaster. At the common center is a small ball mounted on a metallic rod which pa.s.ses through the poles of the circles. This small terrestrial sphere has a diameter of 8 cm., and around it are two small circles probably intended to represent the path of the moon and of the planet Mercury.
Word has been received of another armillary sphere of about 1700, though undated, constructed by Vitale Giordani (1633-1711), a mathematician of some note in his day. This sphere belongs to the Biblioteca Lancisiana of Rome, which, as noted above, possesses one by Barocci of the year 1570.[103]
The idea of constructing large ma.n.u.script globes, such as were those of Benci and of Moroncelli, was taken up by Giuseppe Scarabelli of Mirandola, who appears to have won special distinction in his day as an engineer.[104] Although the large globes, terrestrial and celestial, three braccia (ca. 200 cm.) in diameter, which he is known to have made, a.s.sisted by his son Ma.s.simo, cannot now be located, we are told that they were of such size and quality that their equal could not be found ”in Milan, in Venice, or in Rome.”
In what has been stated above concerning globe makers of Italy in the late seventeenth century and the early eighteenth, it has been noted that a number of those most prominent were members of some one or other of the many monastic orders. Benci and Moroncelli were of the Silvestrin Congregation; Coronelli was a Minorite, being honored with an election to the office of General of the Franciscan Order. It was in the late seventeenth century that Giovanni Battista da Ca.s.sine,[105] a Capuchin monk, began to achieve distinction as a map and globe maker, in particular, however, through the maps he drafted of the various provinces of his order which he described in his 'Descrizione cosmografica della Provincie e dei Conventi de FF: Min. Cappuccini di S.