One of the Finest Celestial Maps Ever Produced in a Magnificent Example of the First State

CELLARIUS, Andreas. [Amsterdam, 1660]

Copernican Solar System. CELLARIUS, Andreas. [Amsterdam, 1660] Planisphaerium Copernicanum. 17 x 20 ½ inches. Fine, full original colored accented with gold; excellent condition. In a fine, archival, gold-leaf frame.                                                                                                                                  
A pinnacle of celestial cartography in the first state.  Its superb original color heightened with gold is of the most lavish type to found on a Cellarius chart.  This rendering of the Copernican solar system is arguably the most powerful and unambiguous visual statement of a heliocentric solar system produced to date.  The engraving’s striking design, showing the rays of the centrally positioned sun emanating to the edges of the solar system, makes the point with dramatic clarity.  Particular emphasis is given to Jupiter and its fours moons, which played a crucial role in Galileo’s corroboration of the heliocentric system.  Seated a lower right with instruments and books is the Polish astronomer, Copernicus, while the figure at the left has been tentatively identified as the Greek scholar, Aristarchus of Samos (f. 250 BC), who is believed to have been the first to propose a heliocentric solar system. 

Although Copernicus proposed his momentous theory well over a century before the publication of this engraving, it was still considered innovative and heretical when Cellarius’s work appeared.  Fewer than 30 years before this work was published, Galileo was placed under house arrest by the Inquisition for his support of Copernicus’ ideas.

The mapping of the heavens reached its aesthetic peak, at least in printed form, in Andreas Cellarius’ celestial atlas, Harmonia Macrocosmica, first published in 1660.  Cellarius' charts were striking for their innovative designs that attempted to depict complex astronomical principles.  Some, for example, artfully create the illusion of constellations superimposed on the earth as if viewed from outer space.  Also, several create a sense of three-dimensionality to illustrate certain concepts.

Cellarius' engravings can also be seen in part as a celebration and explication of advances in astronomy and cosmology effected by Copernicus, Galileo and Brahe.  While the Netherlands was not a center of astronomical learning at the time, the Dutch, nevertheless, played a key role in advancing knowledge in the field.  It was there at the beginning of the 17th Century that a scientifically useful telescope was developed.  Moreover, it was Dutch navigators venturing to the lower latitudes who identified several previously unobserved constellations that are not visible in the Northern Hemisphere.  The result was visually delightful images that mingle complex astronomical data, portraits of important astronomers, and illustrations of instruments with playful, baroque ornamentation.  Despite the evident success of Cellarius' charts in his day and their enduring appeal, he remains an obscure figure.  He was a provincial academic, the Rector of the Latin School at Hoorn.

Van Gent, R. H. Andreas Cellarius, p. 47; Stott, pp. 46-7.

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