Fig. 101. Terrestrial Globe of Isaac Habrecht, 1625.
In an artistic cartouch to the south of the East Indian Islands and within “Terra Australis” is the following signed dedication: “Perillustri et Generossissimo Dno Dno Eberardo Dynaste in Rappolstein. Hohenaccio et Geroltzeccio ad Vogasinum Divi Mathiae II Imp. nec non Sereniss. Maximiliani Archiducis Austriae. P. M. Camerario et Citeriorum Ordinum Provincialium Praesidi Magnifico: ex antiqua Ducā Spoleti familia oriundo: Domino meo Clementissio Triplicem hunc globum: Coelestem scilicet: convexum et concavum et hunc terrestrem novissimae editionis et correctionis. D. D. D. Isaacus Habrect Phil. et med. d. Argentinensis.” “To the Most Illustrious and Most Generous Lord Eberhardt Ruler in Ruppelstein, Hohenau and Geroldseck in the Vosges, Divine Emperor Matties II and also the Most Serene Maximilian Archduke of Austria, the Exalted President of the Provincial Orders of the Cameria, and those on this side of the mountains, sprung from the Ancient Ducal Family of Spoleto, my Most Gracious Lord, this triple globe, that is celestial, convex and concave terrestrial, corrected according to the latest information, gives and dedicates Isaac Habrecht, philosopher and physician of Strassburg.” In the northern part of North America is a legend referring to the expeditions of Davis, Schouten, and Le Maire reading, “Versus Articum polum ulterior transgressus hactenus ab Herculis licet Davis Angli labore id examinatus fuerit sicut et circa antarcticum fretum noviter a Guilielmo Schout detectum Le Maire nuncupatum extremus adhuc navigationum est terminus. Quamvis nullus dubitet maxima totius orbis magnalia sub polis delitescere quorum detectionem forsitan summus Deus suo tempore reservat. Typis Jacop. ab Heyden Argentinae.” “Toward the Arctic pole the last voyage up to the present was made, with Herculean labors, by Davis an Englishman. Around the Antarctic a strait has lately been discovered by William Schouten and named Le Maire, and this, up to the present, is the extreme limit of navigation, although no one doubts that the greatest wonders of all the world lie hidden under the poles, the discovery of which, it may be that Almighty God reserves for his own time. Printed by Jacob von Heyden of Strassburg.” It is probable that the Jacob von Heyden here referred to was a relative of Christian Heyden of Nürnberg, mathematician and globe maker of renown.[55] Below the legend last quoted is a brief one reading, “America septentrionalis a Christoforo Colombo 1492 detecta.” “North America discovered by Christopher Columbus in the year 1492.” This appears to have been quoted from the Hondius globe of the year 1618. The austral continent is referred to as “Terra Australis incognita,” and near New Guinea is inscribed the following, likewise quoted from Hondius: “Sic dicta quod ejus littora locorūqȝ Guineae Affricanae multum sint similia. Dicitur a nonnullis Terra de Piccinaculi; et sit ne insula an pars continentis Australis incertum est.” “So called because its shores are much like those of African Guinea. It is called by some the land of Piccinaculi: and it is uncertain whether it is an island or a part of the Australian continent.”
A considerable number of brief legends appear upon different parts of the globe map, each having a local significance. In coloring the map attention was given to the representation of territorial boundaries which gives an added interest to the globe. The “Meridianus Primus” is made to pass through the Island of Corvo, and other meridians are drawn at intervals of ten degrees. The loxodromic lines, as on the Hondius globes, are made a conspicuous feature of the map, having their crossing centers at longitudes 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270° on the equator, and on the prime meridian at latitude 35° both north and south, as well as at the same latitude on the opposite side of the sphere, where the prime meridian becomes the meridian of 180°. Habrecht appears to have followed somewhat closely the globes of Hondius for his geographical data.
In addition to the Habrecht terrestrial globe in The Hispanic Society’s collection, two other copies are known, which likewise are undated. One of these belongs to the Biblioteca Comunale of Sondrio, and the other to the Archivo Municipale of Asti.
Of the celestial globes of Habrecht four copies have been located; one being in the Biblioteca Comunale of Sondrio, in a good state of preservation; one in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nürnberg, wanting, however, the original mounting, having its map engraved, as stated in a legend, by Jacob von Heyden et Johann Christoph Weigel; one in the Biblioteca Comunale of Asti; one in the Royal Museum of Cassel.
It is strikingly evident that Habrecht followed in the main the work of Willem Jansz. Blaeu, and Jodocus Hondius for his celestial globes. As the year 1619 was selected as the one in which star positions were to be recorded, it is probable, as intimated above, that these globes were constructed in that year. Each of the globes referred to is reported as retaining the brilliant coloring which had been laid on by hand.
Garcia de Céspedes, writing in 1606,[56] calls attention to a globe, concerning which nothing farther is known, referring to it as a “Globillo que hizo en Portugal aquel grau Piloto que se emborrachana cuyo nombre no me acuerdo.” “A small globe constructed in Portugal by a great pilot, whose name is unknown, but who was a great drunkard.”
In the year 1893 Baron Nordenskiöld presented to the Royal Geographical Society a facsimile in gores of a globe map, which fact is noted in that society’s Journal. The globe is one of silver, bearing the author and date legend “Johann Hauer. 1620.” The record tells of its having been presented in the year 1632 to Gustavus Adolphus and that it is now one of the treasures of the National Museum of Stockholm. The engraved map is of the Hondius or the Mercator type presenting in the main the best geographical knowledge of the time. Its many legends are in the Latin language; the lettering, though small, is easily legible. The engraver has adorned the seas with ships and with such marine animals as are frequently to be found in the maps of the period.[57]
It has been previously noted that the employment of engraved gore maps in globe construction was not received with general favor in Italy in the sixteenth century, although Mercator’s globes were copied to some extent, as were those of De Mongenet. Toward the close of the century, the preference for manuscript globes, or for engraved bronze or copper globes seems gradually to have yielded to a belief in the more practical method of construction which had established itself in the North. Originality, however, does not appear to have been a striking feature of Italian endeavor in this method of globe making. There was an occasional manifestation of independence and individuality, it is true, but in general there was a disposition to copy, and the early seventeenth century furnishes us an example in the reissue by Giuseppe de Rossi of the work of Jodocus Hondius, but without credit, as has been previously observed.
Among those who attained distinction in Italy in the first half of the seventeenth century in the construction of globes having engraved gore maps, may be named Mattheus Greuter. He was born in Strassburg in the year 1556, where he learned designing and engraving. In early life he went to Lyons in France where he carried on his work, but later he removed to Avignon, adding to his art in this city that of type cutting. We next find him in Rome, busily engaged in the work of engraving, in which he had become exceedingly proficient, winning for himself a high place among the Italian artists of his day. Map engraving, we learn, early claimed his attention, and among his masterpieces in this field may be mentioned a large map of Italy. Of this work no copy is at present known, but it is thought that it probably served Magini as a model for his “Italia” which was published in the year 1620. It could not have been long after he had taken up his residence in Rome, where he became a naturalized citizen, that he began the preparation of his first terrestrial globe, which he issued in the year 1632. So well did he perform his work that he is entitled to rank with the leading globe makers of the Netherlands.