Earths of Coronelli

The Earths of Coronelli or Globes of Marly are a pair of spheres (terrestrial and celestial) of great dimension (387 cm diameter) carried out by Vincenzo Coronelli and offered to Louis XIV. The terrestrial sphere presents the state of geographical knowledge then known while celestial sphere appears the state of the sky in the birth of Louis XIV.

History

The cardinal of Estrées, ambassador French of Louis XIV at the Holy See, finances these spheres to offer them to the king. The Cardinal had been very impressed by the spheres of one meter fifty of diameter manufactured by Coronelli in 1678 for the Duke of Parma. He obtained from the Italian cartographer to carry out two spheres of great dimension for Louis XIV. Manufactured with Paris of 1681 with 1683 by Vincenzo Coronelli, “the largest manufacturer of spheres of all times”, these two spheres, one terrestrial and the other celestial one, measure 387 cm in diameter and weigh approximately 2 tons each one. The diameter reaches 487 cm if the meridian lines and the circles of horizon are included (mobile).

The furniture of presentation of the spheres is him also of great dimension, carrying the whole with more than 8 meters height. Furniture was carried out by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and the English Michael Butterfield. Each marble and bronze furniture weighs more than fifteen tons.

Probably built with the Hotel of Lioness in Paris, the spheres were intended to decorate the Château of Versailles. They remain however in Paris in waiting of an architectural solution to present them. A project of exposure in the small Orangery is evoked in 1690, but abandoned. They are finally installed with Marly, where they remained of 1703 with 1715, before being transferred to Paris. The Earths of Marly owe their name with this short stay with the Château of Marly, where houses were especially built in order to present these works of great dimension. In Marly, the spheres impress the visitors, the such Queen of England which discovers them the August 12th 1704 at the time of a visit at the court of Louis XIV.

They belong now to the collections of the National library of France and since their creation, these spheres were seldom presented to the public, because of their dimension except standards. After their stay with Marly of 1703 with 1715, they are stored in Paris, then are exposed of 1782 to 1901 to the royal Library then national. Their dimension was taken into account by the architects of the building and, as of 1731, the part is ready to receive the spheres. In his comment of the plan of the royal library in the Architecture Francoise which it publishes in 1754, Jacques-François Blondel is astonished by this situation: “The marked part M was built in 1731, to place two spheres there (...) but since one brought them of Marly, they remained boxed and are not still exposed to the sight of the connoisseurs. (...) Undoubtedly one will not deprive yet a long time the public of a curiosity if not very common and who, having cost such an amount of expenditure, deserve well that one to make of them the access easy”. They leave the National library in 1901 following the modifications operated in the big room of reading.

Locked up since 1901, they fall into the lapse of memory and one loses even the keys opening the cases of storage. The cartographer Michel Morel finds their traces at the beginning of the Années 1970 with the assistance of Monique Pelletier, person in charge of the Cartes department and plans at the National library. Morel is turned over then towards the international association of the Friends of Coronelli, who make pressure to make expose the spheres. They are restored and create the event at the time of an exposure of cartography to the National center of art and culture Georges-Pompidou of the May 20th to the September 30th 1980. On this occasion, the spheres are transported by the army (four vehicles tank transporter are mobilized to ensure this operation) their reserves of the Orangery of Versailles in Beaubourg. After the exposure, the spheres are again stored in Versailles then transferred with the Villette. Work of restoration lasts 60 days and begins in Versailles and is pousuivent in Beaubourg under the direction of Michel Morel by cutting down the frontage of the cases and while working inside the aforementioned case. With the opening of the cases, Michel Morel notes that the sphere was of an aspect grisâtre, a layer of accumulated dust of 1782 with 1901. Since 1901, the spheres are indeed protected by a thick duffel. This protection however was destroyed partly.

They are then exposed in 2000 at the time of the World Fair of Hanover. They were then presented on trestles but never left Paris! They were indeed presented in their Parisian reserves at the request of the organizers of the World Fair of Hanover, who did not obtain the right to expose these spheres in Germany.

They are presented, without their furniture, with the Large palace in September 2005 (see photographs). After a small restoration of the poles in June - July 2006, the spheres are exposed in the Western wing of the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, without their furniture, since the October 4th 2006. The absence of furniture is explained by the height and the weight of the unit.

Description of the spheres

As comparison, the surface of the two spheres is equal to once and half the Wedding at Cana of Paul Véronèse is more than 100 m ².

Among the painters having illustrated these spheres, let us quote Jean-Baptiste Corneille.

The terrestrial sphere presents the state of geographical knowledge then known and California is still an island. It comprises more than 600 explanatory cartouches, sometimes rather long, like that entitled “Manners of the people of Chile”. These texts and the layouts geograhic are entrusted to specialists. The layout of the Mississippi is thus entrusted to Jean-Baptiste Franquelin, cartographer established with Quebec, and Cavelier of the Room, explorer of these territories.

The celestial sphere appears the state of the sky in the birth of Louis XIV. Painted and enluminé by Jean-Baptiste Crow, are represented there the constellations in the form of animals fantastic, the stars and the planets, the whole in a camaieu of blue. The names of the constellations are indicated in four languages: French, Latin, old and Arab Greek. Seven stars are named exclusively in Arabic. The sphere also indicates the race of certain celestial bodies between 1600 and 1700 of which some comets.

We have today still the entirety of the texts of the many descriptive cartouches thanks to the patience of François the Broad one, one of the guards of this treasure which, at the beginning of the 18th century, recopied all the inscriptions carefully being reproduced on the spheres. These documents were invaluable at the time of the restoration operated before the exposure to Beaubourg in 1980.

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