DÜRER, Albrecht. [with Johannes STABIUS and Konrad HEINFOGEL].
[Imagines coeli septentrionales cum duodecim imaginibus zodiaci].
[ca. 1515].
With: (2) DÜRER, Albrecht, Johannes STABIUS, Konrad HEINFOGEL. [Imagines coeli meridionales].
Ralf Leopold von Retberg, 1867.
Ad 1: map and leaf size ca. 43.5 x 42.5 cm; ad 2: map 43 x 43 cm; leaf size ca. 50 x 50 cm. Ad 1: woodcut map of the northern hemisphere in its second state, with Dürer's monogram. The map depicts all known constellations in the northern hemisphere in great detail, resulting in an intricate map in which all constellations can be clearly identified upon close inspection. According to Ptolemaic tradition the twelve signs of the Zodiac are displayed on the northern hemisphere and are to be read counter-clockwise. That is, as seen from space, or as they would appear on a celestial globe. The constellation figures are therefore shown from their back view. Dürer decorated the four corners of the northern chart by portraits of four ancient authorities, dressed in their assumed national dress, each holding a celestial globe: Aratus representing the Greek, Ptolemy the Egyptian, Al-Sufi the Islamic, and Marcus Manilius the Roman tradition of astronomy. Ad 2: 19th-century lithograph facsimile of the map of the southern hemisphere in its second state. The map includes some cartouches and coats-of-arms providing information about the collaborators and patrons. In the upper corners is a dedication to Cardinal Mattheus Lang von Wellenberg and his arms. The lower right corner shows Stabius's privilege for publication, granted by Maximilian I. In the lower left are the coats of arms of the three authors and a printed badge noting their names and tasks: Johannes Stabius ordered (and edited), Konrad Heinfogel positioned the stars, Albertus Durer drew the images. The celestial map itself depicts the stars and figures of the then-known 15 constellations in of the southern hemisphere. Large areas of this map are vacant of constellations because they were not visible from the Mediterranean or Middle East, the area where the sources of Ptolemy's Almagest came from. Although the discoveries of the new world produced new observations of the southern firmament, these were not incorporated.
Both maps are mounted matching gold-coloured frames (67.5 x 67.5 cm), in white passe-partouts with a gilt line directly framing the maps on the inside of the passe-partouts.
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