342
TITLE: The Green, or Quirini, Globe
DATE: 1515-28
AUTHOR: unknown
DESCRIPTION: In the geographical department of the Bibliotheque Nationale
of Paris is a globe referred to in cartographical literature as the Green
globe, or the Quirini globe, the first name being given to it by
Gabriel Marcel, by reason of the prominence of the color green employed
in painting the seas. It is an unsigned and undated wooden sphere, 24 cm
in diameter. Its surface appears to have been covered with a coating of
paint, originally white, and on this the world map was drawn. There is much
artistic skill displayed in the coast configurations, with the deeply shaded
seaboards making the land appear to rise above the ocean surface, and in
the representation of the islands, most of which are made conspicuous in
red or gold. The inscriptions in dark brown, perhaps originally black, are
neatly written, clearly suggesting that the globe was constructed in the
first quarter of the sixteenth century, perhaps as early as 1513 or 1515.
The equator, the tropics, and the polar circles are traced in gold; the
degrees of latitude and longitude are marked in red, and at intervals of
ten degrees. The prime meridian is made to pass through the Cape Verde Islands,
islands referred to as Insule Portugalensium invente anno Domini 1472.
This globe shows a striking resemblance to those of Schöner of 1515
(Slide #323), a fact which has led Marcel to refer it to the Schönerian
school, though not to attribute it directly to Schöner himself. A very
important and interesting feature of the globe is the appearance of the
name America no less than four times in the New World; twice in what we
now call North America and twice in South America. It is, indeed, the oldest
known cartographical monument on which the name America is given both to
the north and the south continental areas. In the southem continent we read
America ab inuentore nuncupata, and near the Antilles Iste insule per
Columbus genuensem almirantem et mandato regis castelle invente sunt
[These islands were discovered by Columbus, a Genoese admiral, by command
of the king of Castile]. Harrisse observes that it appears the cartographer
thought of Columbus as the discoverer of the West India islands only, and
that he thought the honor of the discovery of the American continents, north
and south, belongs to Vespucius. An austral land appears, though nameless,
which Schöner called Brasilie regio on his globe of 1515, and
Brasilia inferior on his globe of 1520.
Location: Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Size: 24 cm diameter
References:
*Stevenson, E.L., Terrestrial and Celestrial Globes, pp. 76-77, Figure 38