Layers of Magnetism or Polarity of the Earth [Corporum Coelestium Magnitudes]

This exceptional, originally hand-colored celestial map engraving is from Andreas Cellarius’s Harmonia Macrocosmica Seu Atlas Universalis Et Novus, Totius Universi Creati Cosmographiam Generalem, Et Novam Exhibens. It was published in Amsterdam in 1708 by Gerard Valk & Petrus Schenck.

Cellarius’s work is one of the most highly decorative and noted as one of the finest celestial atlases ever produced. His atlas was done at the height of advancements in the understanding of the universe. Cellarius’s atlas was a masterful work at the height of the golden age of Dutch cartography.

Cellarius’s charts blends exquisite artistry with the scientific knowledge of the heavens at the time. He depicts the three great planetary systems of Ptolemy, Nicholas Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. He took inspiration from the globes of Plancius and Blaeu. He rendered the motions of the sun, moon, and planets and illustrated the constellations with classic and biblical figures, animals, and instruments.

Andreas Cellarius (1596-1665) was a Dutch-German cartographer and cosmographer. He worked as a schoolmaster and eventually headmaster. He published several works but Harmonia Macrocosmica is still considered his greatest publication.

The frontispiece for the work was engraved by Frederik Hendrik van den Hove. At least ten plates were engraved by Johannes van Loon. The classical constellations were illustrated after Jan Pieterszoon Saenredam.