Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Volume 2: Their History and Construction Including a Consideration of their Value as Aids in the Study of Geography and AstronomyStevenson, Edward Luther
History
Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Volume 2: Their History and Construction Including a Consideration of their Value as Aids in the Study of Geography and Astronomy
Stevenson, Edward Luther
Geography -- History; Globes
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 manuscript 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,
assisted by his son Massimo, 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 Cassine,[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.
Francesco.’[106] He was a native of Cassine in the district of
Alessandria, and entered in early life into the Convent of the
Immaculata Concezzione of Milan. He tells us, in his introduction to his
work noted above, that he constructed two globes for the library of his
convent in Milan, a terrestrial and a celestial, adding, “Quondam
aedificabam, simul et delineabam pro Bibliotheca nostra Immacolatae
Conceptionis duos satis grandes Globos nimirum coelestem unum,
terrestrem alium.” “I once designed and constructed for our library of
the Immaculate Conception, two large globes, one a terrestrial, the
other a celestial.” We do not know the exact date of the construction of
these globes, but it probably was near 1700.[107] It is further probable
that these globes were examples of Italy’s best productions within this
field. They, however, cannot now be located, having disappeared at the
time of the dissolution of the convent in the year 1810.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account