Celestial and terrestrial globes by Matthaeus Greuter
White painted, gilt and silver plated softwood, printed paper. The celestial globe signed "ROMAE M. Greuter permissu 1636 exc." The terrestrial signed "Matthaeus Greuter Auctor ANNO MDCXXXII". Restored dents to the upper and lower sections, a restored tear through the northern hemisphere of the terrestrial globe. The height with stand is 122 cm, the circumference of the globes is approx. 155 cm.
The globes Rome, 1632 and 1636, the mountings presumably in part late 17th C.
The Strasbourg-born engraver Matthaeus Greuter (1564 - 1638) spent most of his life in Italy from 1606 at the latest, where he produced maps based on the latest geographical findings and methods, mainly for the Vatican. He dedicated his first globe to Jacopo Boncompagni (1548 - 1612), who had died 20 years earlier. The example presented here also bears the dedication "Illmo. et excellentmo. D. IACOBO BONCOMPAGNO SORAE ARCISQ DUCI MARCHIONI VIGNOLAE AQUINI COMITI Dno suo colenitmo. Matthaeus Greuter humill. obseq ergo.DD." Jacopo, or Giacomo Boncompagni, was a son of Ugo Boncompagni, later Pope Gregory XIII. After his father's election as Pope, he went to Rome and became castellan of Castel Sant'Angelo. Under his father, but also his successors Pope Sixtus V and Clement VIII, Jacopo made a diplomatic career, coming into the possession of large estates and several titles. The Spanish King Philip II awarded him the Order of Calatrava in 1578. Thanks to successful financial transactions and investments, he was able to build up a highly regarded library. He also promoted the great church musician Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
The celestial globe, dated 1636 and printed in colour, refers explicitly to an edition of the works of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601) published in 1622. Greuter additionally depicted two new constellations, the "Camelopardalis" (the giraffe) in the northern sky and "Unicornis" (the unicorn) near the equator. They go back to celestial maps published in 1624 by the Silesian astronomer Jacob Bartsch (1600 Lubań/Luban 1632), who quoted the new constellations of the Dutchman Petrus Plancius (1552 - 1622).
As both globes are present here in identical supports, it is thought that they were probably acquired in the course of the later 17th or early 18th century for a library and mounted in the same style.
Literature
Cf. Dahl/Gauvin, Sphaerae mundi, Montreal-Quebec-Ontario 2000, p. 119 ff.