August 07, 2003
Earth, Moon & Sun
The following images are of hand-coloured engravings taken from Athanasius Kircher’s 1664 opus Mundus Subterraneus (previously mentioned here).
Opus Naturae Opus Intelligentiae - Geocosmi Structura - Sectional view of the ‘subterranean’ earth, showing internal magma and volcanic action at the surface. Decorated in the spandrels with cherub winds and clouds.
Genuina Corporis Lunaris Facies - the surface of the moon as observed in the times of Galileo with improved observations through the use of the telescope. Decorated in the spandrels with suns showing moon phases, and eclipse diagram.
Schema Corporis Solaris - an early view of the sun, mistakenly showing sun-spots as erupting volcanoes. Decorated in the spandrels with a phoenix rising from the ashes, a cherub with cornucopia, a sunflower in baroque pot, and an eagle carrying its young.
I lifted these images and captions from a page at the George Glazer gallery’s site. The same information is also presented in Eugenii Katz’s Kircher page.
Posted by misteraitch at August 7, 2003 03:41 PM | TrackBackComments
Great stuff! I am particularly impressed with the rendition of the moon.
Posted by: mark on August 8, 2003 01:47 PMKircher is one of my heroes - all those 17th century polymaths - just fascinating...
Posted by: dave on August 10, 2003 09:34 PMPost a comment
