Astronomical Images : Cartesian world system

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>In his <i>Atlante veneto</i> of 1690, Vicenzo Coronelli (1650-1718) included a discussion of the world systems of Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. Accompanying this discussion of the 'Sistemi del mondo' were nine figures, presented together on a single bifolium (Plate 9); these figures were later reproduced in Coronelli's <i>Epitome cosmografica</i> (1693), where they were each printed onto a separate sheet. Figures VIII and IX comprise Coronelli's attention to the Cartesian world system. However, these two illustrations bear strikingly little resemblance to the Cartesian vortices of Descartes' <i>Le monde</i>. Figure VIII, seen here, simply portrays a heliocentric system with the circular paths of the Earth and the superior planets marked, along with the inclusion of four satellites orbiting Jupiter. The inclusion of planetary models in these cosmographical works reflects the development of the genre in the early modern period. In attempting to describe the Earth in relation to the heavens, cosmographical texts often borrowed from the diagrammatic tradition of medieval spherical astronomy; for instance, the nested-sphere diagrams representing the heavens and the terrestrial Elements according to Aristotle. Planetary models, however, typically belonged to the tradition of <i>Theorica planetarum</i>; the depiction of world systems in Coronelli's texts therefore reflects the increasing scope of cosmography to include elements of planetary as well as spherical astronomy.</p>