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Celestial Map of the Southern Sky (Imagines coeli meridionalis)

A work made of woodcut in black on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of woodcut in black on ivory laid paper.

Date:

1515

Artist:

Albrecht Dürer
German, 1471-1528

About this artwork

Maps of the heavens and earth were one of the first printed instruments to be turned into three-dimensional objects—as globes. These began with functional two-dimensional diagrams that were cut out in elongated globe-gore strips and pasted onto spheres. While Dürer’s maps of the northern and southern skies were not meant to be mounted in this way, they were copied hundreds of times for this purpose. Produced as a presentation gift along with a view of the terrestrial globe for a humanist advisor to Emperor Maximilian, the dual view depicts the heavens as if the viewer were observing them from space.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Albrecht Dürer

Title

Celestial Map of the Southern Sky (Imagines coeli meridionalis)

Place

Germany (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1515

Medium

Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 43.1 × 43.3 cm (17 × 17 1/16 in.); Sheet: 58.5 × 46.3 cm (23 1/16 × 18 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Clarence Buckingham Collection

Reference Number

1964.1064

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/106549/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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