351
TITLE: Verrazano Globe
DATE: 1530
AUTHOR: Robert de Bailly
DESCRIPTION: This has been described as "one of the finest metal
globes of the period", due to the perfect preservation of its delicately
engraved surface and the interest of its cartographic features. The stand,
ornamented with lions' heads and with ball and claw feet, recalls the globe-mountings
represented in the woodcuts of Schöner's books (Slide # 323).
The delineation of North America records the results of of the explorations
carried out by Giovanni da Verrazano for Francis I in 1524. Among other
things, it reflects Verazano's conception of a large gulf penetrating the
western coast of North America. There were skeptics among the 19th century
historians who denied the authenticity of Verrazano's voyage of 1524. These
scholars persisted in the belief that no vestige remained in French written
records, or in cartographical representation, that supported the achievements
of this explorer. This negation is controverted by the circumstances of
publication, content and configuration of the Fine maps (Slide # 342) and
their derivatives of the period 1531 to 1566 and later. Another and earlier
cartographical assertion of contemporary French knowledge of the voyage
of Verrazano is this engraved copper globe by Bailly.
Only a year after the Gerolamo de Verrazano map (Slide # 333) was made,
Robert de Bailly constructed a copper globe known today in three examples,
signed "Robertus Bailly 1530". According to Wroth, these must
be regarded as a contemporary French contribution to the new American cartography
brought into being by the voyage of 1524. One of these globes is in the
Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris); another, indentified by Marcel Destombes,
is in the Museo Lazaro Galdiano (Madrid); and the third, is in the Pierpont
Morgan Library (New York). The significance of the Bailly Globe was
first brought to the attention of modern scholars when in 1899 it was offered
for sale by Ludwig Rosenthal of Munich. Accompanying the description of
the globe was an admirable representation of its constituent gores shown
on a plane surface (Slide #335A). A photographic
reproduction of the North American section in a fan-like disposition of
the gores was an interesting feature of the description of the globe in
the Rosenthal catalogue. This example of what is sometimes called the Verrazano
Globe was bought directly from Rosenthal in 1912 by J. Pierpont Morgan,
possibly because of the close relationship this globe bears to the annotated
Verrazano narrative in the Cellere Codex also acquired by Morgan.
Examination of the Bailly Globe of 1530 suggests its dependence both
in nomenclature and configuration upon the map drawn by Gerolamo de Verrazano
the year before. This cartographer had given a choice of two names to the
North American discoveries of his brother: Nova Gallia sive Iucatanet, or
Verrazano sive nova gallia. Bailly chose to call the country Verrazana,
a name not found in his other possible sources, that is, the 1527 map of
Maggiolo where the new North American world is called Francesca, or in the
Gilt Globe of 1528 (Slide #331.1) where it
is similarly designated. Therefore, Wroth believes that Bailly was more
influenced by the Varrazano map than by that of Maggiolo. Besides the choice
of the name, the shape and directional trend of the coastline of the supposed
Sea of Verrazano, the great bight formed by the Pacific invasion of the
continent, are as drawn by Gerolamo da Verrazano rather than as it is portrayed
by Maggiolo. Additionally, the location of the globe of the southern beginning
of the Sea of Verrazzano at the 40° of the Gerolamo map (Slide #333).
The Bailly Globe, or globes, of 1530 may be thought of as having
affirmed in France, and elsewhere perhaps, the Verrazanian concept, its
correctness as well as its error, of the eastern coast of North America.
Locations: Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris)
Museo Lazaro Galdiano (Madrid)
Pierpont Morgan Library (New York)
Size: 14 cm [5.5 inches] diameter
References:
*Brown, L.A., The World Encompassed, #60, Plate XIX
*Stevenson, E.L., Terrestrial and Celestrial Globes, vol. I, p. 106, Figure
53
*Wroth, L.C., The Voyages of Giovanni da Verrazano, 1524-28 , pp. 186-188,
Plates 28, 29
*illustrated