Category: Pictorial Works

Tabula selenographica

Read the Transcript
This is a print by Doppelmayr and Homann of two understandings of the Moon. Now, it’s easy to guess that one of the depictions, perhaps the one on the left, is of the side facing the Earth and the other is the side not facing the Earth – but we know that one side of the Moon is always facing the Earth, and, at the time that these maps were prepared, in the mid-18th Century, humankind had no idea what the backside of the Moon looked like. So, what are these? Well, the depiction of the Moon on the left-hand side is a depiction that a mapmaker by the name of Hevelius created, and his depiction of the Moon is sufficiently accurate that it became the foundation for most of the science of Selenography[1] that would follow in the centuries afterward. On the right-hand side is a different depiction of the same facing side of the Moon, this one by Riccioli for a Franciscan priest, excuse me, a Jesuit priest by the name of Grimaldi. What’s interesting about this depiction is that its names are the ones that stuck, and the way of referring to the Moon is the way we refer to it today. So, for example, on the left-hand side, the Hevelius side, we have a large dark section called “Mediterraneum,” but that same area is depicted on the Riccioli side as “Mare Imbrium,” the term that is still used today in referring to that part of the Moon. Of course, the Riccioli terminology was in part based on the erroneous notion that there were actual seas, hence the term “Mare” or “Sea.” We now know that there is not surface water, at least not surface water of any significance, on the Moon, but those are the names that stuck.

What’s also interesting about both the depictions is although one side of the Moon is always facing the Earth, there is enough variation from month to month that a little bit more than one half of the Moon’s surface is visible from time-to-time from the Earth, hence the overlapping circles in both cases. As one can also see, there are some wonderful depictions of Cherubs – one Cherub holding on his shoulder and the other looking through, presumably, emulating the way in which the early viewers of the Moon used telescopes to learn more about the surface.

[1] Selenography can be defined as “the science of the physical features of the moon” or “lunar geography.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/selenography Accessed 23 Mar. 2021.

 

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1935661

Theodor De Bry’s Grand Voyages

Read the Transcript
These are four examples of the engravings of Theodoros de Bry. De Bry never actually visited the Americas himself, but based on the accounts that he heard back from the New World, he did a series of engravings – very powerful engravings – that are illustrated here. He depicts in several of these violence between Indian and Indian, violence between Indian and invading Spaniards, the navigation up a small bay of explorers, and, in still another, a particularly violent episode between the slave masters of the day, the conquering Spanish, and the Indians, who were enslaved and made to work in horrible conditions. The larger story frequently told by de Bry, and certainly told by three of the four of these prints, is man’s inhumanity to man.

One of the pictures which is particularly interesting shows the Spanish invaders attempting to embattle the Indians who are defending themselves in a variety of manners. At the very center of the picture there is a group of Indians shown up in a stylized tree, pouring some substance – water, oil, who knows what – down upon the attacking conquistadors, who are holding up a large piece of wood to trying to fend it off. Meanwhile other Spaniards are firing rifles up at the tree – you can see the plumes of smoke at the end of their barrels – and an effort has been made, so far unsuccessful, to chop the tree down and to overcome the resistance accordingly. Needless to say, this is a hyper-stylized account of the conflict between the invading conquistadors and the native peoples, but it succeeds, I think, in depicting and making graphic for the modern eye just how brutal that period was.

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1935595

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1935594

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1935626

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1935627

Francisco Pisarro and Athabaliba, ultimus rex Peruanorum

Read the Transcript
These are two engravings by a British mapmaker by the name of John Ogilby. One is of the Spanish conquistador, Francisco Pisarro, the conqueror of the Peruvian indigenous peoples. And the other is the Incan leader, Athabaliba[1], who was the unhappy monarch deposed by the Spaniards when they invaded and asserted their control over that part of South America. The engravings are beautiful, they’re clear, they almost seem fresh off the press, but are in fact, over two hundred years old, and they have been magnificently colored again to catch the eye. If we look at each of them in turn, we see certain of the items that signal the role or the fate of the two characters in question – Pisarro on the one hand and Athabaliba on the other. In the case of Pisarro, he’s dressed with a magnificently plumed hat, he is in shining armor, the hilt of a sword shown, and behind him are scenes of the invading Spaniards taking on and ultimately capturing the Incan leader, and working their way on the peoples of the day. On the other hand, the picture of Athabaliba tells his story all too graphically. There are chains around his body, there are chains in the graphics below him. Gold appears here and there. Above the picture of the Incan monarch there is a face – perhaps a face to be found in the Incan traditions – but it looks at us and it looks over the hapless king with a menacing view, signifying that the days of Incan leadership are close to over.

[1] The name of this ruler has been rendered with many different spellings, now most commonly spelled Atahualpa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atahualpa Accessed 12 Apr. 2021.

 

 

 

For more details, view the catalog record for Francisco Pisarro: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1935589

For more details, view the catalog record for Athabaliba: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1935590

A comparative view of the principal waterfalls, islands, lakes, rivers and mountains in the Western and Eastern Hemispheres

Read the Transcript
I’m going to discuss two maps together. These maps are a curious graphic, which doesn’t represent any clear geography, but does represent an amalgam of some of the principal features to be found around the world, whether those features were lakes, rivers, mountains, or the like. And what is kind of nice about them is that they bring all the largest mountains together, for example, and you can see visually which are the tallest and which are the almost-tallest, and so on. So it’s a nice comparative graphic, one that gives you some appreciation of how the various features of the world relate to one another.

 

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1691588

La corveta Atrevida entre bancas del nieve

Read the Transcript
This print is of a corvette[1], a Spanish ship, sailing in turbulent seas. It is, I think, a remarkable rendering of a vessel contending not only with waves but also a snowy coast, perhaps even something of iceberg proportions, but nevertheless, it is close to land, there is snow on the land, and it is through that very difficult passage that this ship, the Atrevida[2], is navigating. The era for this would be in the late 18th century and it gives a good idea, I think, of what sailors of the day had to contend with, and it’s absolutely marvelous, I think, to look at the rigging of the of the sails, and the rope-walks that sailors were required to clamber up. You’ll see one on his way up very perilously heading up to the upper portions of the mast, and no one’s quite made it up to the very top, the top mast, but sailors had to do that. This particular print gives a wonderful impression of what seafaring would have been like under adverse conditions in the day.

[1] “During the Age of Sail, corvettes were one of many types of warships smaller than a frigate and with a single deck of guns. They were very closely related to sloops-of-war. The role of the corvette consisted mostly of coastal patrol, fighting minor wars, supporting large fleets, or participating in show-the-flag missions.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette Accessed 13 Apr. 2021.

[2] “The Descubierta and Atrevida were twin corvettes of the Spanish Navy, custom-designed as identical special exploration and scientific research vessels. […] They were launched together on 8 April 1789.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descubierta_and_Atrevida Accessed 13 Apr. 2021.

 

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1700140

Engraving of Sebastian Münster

Read the Transcript
This is an engraving of a mapmaker. The mapmaker is the well-known mapmaker of the 16th century called Sebastian Münster. We don’t know exactly who engraved this portrait of Münster, but in the course of the rest of the collection at Villanova University’s Falvey Library there will be many, many wood-cut maps, early maps, famous maps, performed by this mapmaker. He was born and lived his life largely in what is now Germany, and his work was pioneering work, copied by many in the years that followed.

 

 

For more details, view the catalog record: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1691614