"Illustrissimo et Eccellentissimo Sig: Gran Contestabile Colonna ... Gran Globi...", Coronelli, Vincenzo Maria

This fascinating decorative engraving commemorates Coronelli's work as a globemaker, particularly his completion of two spectacular globes for Louis XIV. It depicts noblemen admiring a massive and ornate globe crisscrossed with equinoctial lines. The globe is flanked by two elaborate Baroque-style dedicatory cartouches remarking on the globes that Coronelli made for Louis XIV. The cartouche at left ("A l'Auguste Maieste de Louis le Grand ... a Consacre' ce Globe Celeste...") refers to his celestial globe, which shows the constellations as they were the night of the Sun King's birth. The cartouche at right ("A l'Auguste Maieste de Louis le Grand ... a Consacre' ce Globe Terrestre...") focuses on his terrestrial globe. A third cartouche in the center is dedicated to nobleman and patron Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna.

Coronelli was a member of a Franciscan order in Venice and one of the greatest map and globe makers of the 17th century. In 1681, he was commissioned to build a pair of enormous globes for French king Louis XIV. He spent two years in Paris working on the project and was appointed Geographer Royal. He later made some scaled-down versions and published printed gores in several of his works..

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Condition: A

A dark impression on thick paper with a few small spots, printer's ink residue, and a small chip in the top blank margin that has been backed on verso with archival tape.