Andreas Cellarius (ca. 1596–1665)
Harmonia Macrocosmica
Amsterdam: Johannes Janssonius, 1661
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division
Harmonia Macrocosmica
The only celestial atlas published in the Netherlands during the golden age of Dutch cartography, Harmonia Macrocosmica completes the multivolume history of all creation first conceived by Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It consists of 29 charts depicting the competing worldviews of Claudius Ptolemy, Martianus Capella, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. Engraved plates in the Baroque style illustrate more than 400 pages of text and depict the motions of the sun, moon, and planets, as well as delineations of classical and biblical constellations. In the preface, Cellarius notes his intention to create a second volume to address the new astronomical observations made available by the invention of the telescope. Unfortunately, this was never realized, due to his death in 1665.
: Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division
Currently on View at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
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