Theoria Solis Per Eccentricum Sine Epicyclo: Cellarius 1708
- Author: Andreas Cellarius
- Date: 1708
- Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
- Condition: Excellent
- Inches: 21" x 18" Image Area
- Centimeters: 53.85 x 46.15
- Product ID: 003266
THEORIA SOLIS PER ECCENTRIUCUM SINE EPICYLO. From Harmonica Microcosmica, Valk & Schenk, Amsterdam, 1708.
Theoria Solis Per Eccentricum Sine Epicyclo, meaning “Theory of the Sun by Eccentric [Orbit] without Epicycle”. This diagram depicts a geocentric model in which the Sun moves around the Earth on a single off-center (eccentric) circular path, rather than employing epicycles as in the earlier Ptolemaic system, to account for the observed inequalities in the seasons. Highly regarded for both its scientific and artistic value, Cellarius’s plate features intricate visuals showing the Earth at the center, the Sun’s eccentric orbit, and a decorative zodiac, and has become a sought-after collector’s piece among historians of science and antique print enthusiasts.
Background on Creator
Andreas Cellarius (1596-1665) was a Dutch-German cartographer, best known for his Harmonia Macrocosmica, a major star atlas published in 1660 by the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664) as a cosmographical supplement to his Atlas Novus. Cellarius had already started working on this atlas before 1647 and intended it to be a historical introduction for a two-volume treatise on cosmography but the second part was never published.
The plates of his Harmonia Macrocosmica were reprinted in 1708 by the Amsterdam publishers Gerard Valk (1651-1726) and Petrus Schenk the Younger (1660-1711), and it is from this edition that our plates derive.
Description
- Author: Andreas Cellarius
- Date: 1708
- Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
- Condition: Excellent
- Inches: 21" x 18" Image Area
- Centimeters: 53.85 x 46.15
- Product ID: 003266
THEORIA SOLIS PER ECCENTRIUCUM SINE EPICYLO. From Harmonica Microcosmica, Valk & Schenk, Amsterdam, 1708.
Theoria Solis Per Eccentricum Sine Epicyclo, meaning “Theory of the Sun by Eccentric [Orbit] without Epicycle”. This diagram depicts a geocentric model in which the Sun moves around the Earth on a single off-center (eccentric) circular path, rather than employing epicycles as in the earlier Ptolemaic system, to account for the observed inequalities in the seasons. Highly regarded for both its scientific and artistic value, Cellarius’s plate features intricate visuals showing the Earth at the center, the Sun’s eccentric orbit, and a decorative zodiac, and has become a sought-after collector’s piece among historians of science and antique print enthusiasts.
Background on Creator
Andreas Cellarius (1596-1665) was a Dutch-German cartographer, best known for his Harmonia Macrocosmica, a major star atlas published in 1660 by the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664) as a cosmographical supplement to his Atlas Novus. Cellarius had already started working on this atlas before 1647 and intended it to be a historical introduction for a two-volume treatise on cosmography but the second part was never published.
The plates of his Harmonia Macrocosmica were reprinted in 1708 by the Amsterdam publishers Gerard Valk (1651-1726) and Petrus Schenk the Younger (1660-1711), and it is from this edition that our plates derive.
