Vincenzo Coronelli

Vincenzo Coronelli (1650 – 1718) was a Franciscan monk, cosmographer, cartographer, publisher, and encyclopedist known in particular for his atlases and globes.

Cardinal César d'Estrées (1628 – 1714), friend and adviser to Louis XIV (Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death) and ambassador to Rome, saw the Duke of Parma’s globes and invited Coronelli to Paris in 1681 to construct a pair of globes for the Most Christian King. Coronelli moved to the French capital in 1681, where he lived for two years. Each globe was composed of spindles of bent timber about ten feet long and four inches broad at the equator. This wood was then coated with a layer of plaster about an inch thick and covered in a layer of strong unfinished fabric. This was then wrapped in a quarter-inch layer of two very fine fabrics which provided backing for the painted information of the globes. These globes, measuring 384 cm in diameter and weighing approximately 2 tons, are displayed in the Bibliothèque nationale François Mitterrand in Paris. The globes depicted the latest information of French explorations in North America, particularly the expeditions of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.

The celestial globe Coronelli made for Louis XIV

The request for "Globes" started as a private princely commission from a highdemanding class, mostly concentrated in the northern and central Europe courts. The art of coated cards globes with terrestrial or celestial, handwritten and often finely decorated originated in Italy .Coronelli was among the initiators of this art. The most famous Coronelli ‘s globes are divided into 2 groups: the first one includes the Globes manufactured for Parma’s Duke and for Louis XIV, which are unique for top quality; the second one includes those built since 1688, as result of a well known experience . Indeed, the quality of globes made for Louis XIV created the "request" for other Coronelli's globes. Their reputation was so wide that provoked the request from the highest class and institution, desiring to adorn their libraries with these elements not only for scientific use but also as artistic element. By this intent the two globes that we admire today in the Salone Furietti of Angelo Mai Library arrived in Bergamo.

Wikipedia