Constellation or Star Chart of Piscis Austrinus, Southern Fish or Sea Monster

Artist or Author: Johann Bayer

Work: Uranometria

Date of Publication: 1661

Style: Engraving with Professional Hand-coloring / Professionally Hand-colored Gouache Colored Background, Constellation in Watercolor, and Silver or Gold Highlighted Stars

Paper Size: ~ 16" by 12 1/2" (Fold Out)

Condition: The work is in very good to excellent condition overall. There is occasaionally some bleed through from hand witten notes to verso. There may be some minor paper repairs or imperfections due to the age. There may be a few minor marks or imperfections to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions.

Description of the work:

Perhaps the most influential book in celestial maps, Johann Bayer's Uranometria set long-lasting standards in the world of astronomy. Most importantly, this was not just a book of pictures of the skies, but a map of them, an atlas. This particular engraving was published in Ulm by Johannis Gorlini in 1661. The engravings were done by Alexander Mair.

Bayer included a carefully engraved grid so that the maps could be read and followed to a fraction of a degree. Also, Bayer was the first to use Greek letters to designate stars, commonly in order of magnitude. From that, he named the stars using the Greek letter he had given it coupled with the constellation name, i.e. alpha Tauri.

Bayer's work opened a new age in the history of celestial cartography. It was also the first work to represent the stars around the South Pole. The work represented the stars and their positions as presented in Tycho Brahe's catalogue. Bayer also included a plate depicting 12 new southern constellations discovered by Dutch navigators, Peter Dirckszoon de Keyser and Frederick De Houtmann.

The recently applied, professional hand coloring is of very high quality. The sky, grid lines, and gold image border are colored using gouache, which is a type of paint consisting of a high ration of pigment to water along with an inert material, such as chalk. Gouache is heavier and more opaque than traditional watercolor. The pictorial constellations themselves are painted with watercolor, allowing the paper and star symbols to show through. The stars have been painted in luminous silver or gold which reflects light.