Inside the construction techniques of the Master globe-maker Vincenzo Coronelli

Abstract

We present the results of the broad scientific investigation campaign of an important Celestial globe by Vincenzo Coronelli, part of the Marciana National Library collection (Venice). Coronelli was one of the finest globe-makers and cartographers of the 17th century and he manufactured a large number of Terrestrial and Celestial globes of different sizes, such as the two impressive and entirely manuscript 4-meter globes commissioned for Louis XIV. Using multiple techniques, we studied the materials and the construction techniques of the first printed reproduction of the French Celestial globe, donated to the Serenissima Republic in 1689 and still in Venice. We present and discuss the results of the multispectral imaging analysis, of the chemical investigations X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning electron microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and of the stratigraphic analysis by polarised-light microscopy. Moreover, we explain in detail the results of the X-ray tomographic analysis performed in situ. Thanks to this comprehensive campaign, we examined the production process of this unique globe, from the pigment to the woodworking approach of the Master globe-maker Coronelli.