Museo Galileo
italiano
previous
Virtual Museum
Celestial globe gores
    • Setting:
      Room IV
    • Author:
      Vincenzo Coronelli and Jean-Baptiste Nolin
    • Date:
      1693 (20th century printing)
    • Materials:
      paper (copper engraving)
    • Dimensions:
      72x54 cm
    • Celestial globe gores

The 26 sheets, printed in the last century from the original copper plates preserved in the Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris (24 half-gores and 2 polar caps), belong to the second version of the celestial globe by Coronelli (1650-1718) printed in Paris by Jean-Baptiste Nolin (1657-1725) in 1693. The engraving of the plates began in 1686, but was interrupted by a controversy between the French engraver and the Venetian cosmographer. Having already finished the terrestrial globe that formed a pair together with the celestial globe, Coronelli had all the gores engraved anew by a Venetian engraver, obtaining the series finished in 1692. The next year, Nolin finished his work as well, having the celestial globe printed at the expense of a "Societas Gallica". The gores make a globe with a diameter of 108 cm.