The seven planets wheel round a small green earth

Plate 8 sets out the universe as the Greek poet Aratus described it: a small blue-green globe of the earth at the centre, lettered Globus Terrestris and carrying a reclining figure, ringed by the courses of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, each drawn as a thin lettered band. Roundels around the outer ring carry the twelve zodiac figures in blue, rose and gold. Winged putti hold the two title banners across the top of the sheet, and at the foot two groups of astronomers sit among terrestrial and celestial globes, one leaning over an open book, with ruined classical architecture behind them. This copy is coloured with a blue and rose zodiac ring, and carries the Amsterdam imprint of Pieter Schenk and Gerard Valk.

Andreas Cellarius (c. 1596–1665) was a German-born Dutch cartographer and schoolmaster who spent most of his working life as rector of the Latin school in Hoorn. In 1660 the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Janssonius issued his Harmonia Macrocosmica, a folio atlas of twenty-nine engraved plates that set the competing world systems of Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho Brahe beside charts of the constellations and the motions of the planets. It was the last great decorative celestial atlas of the Dutch golden age, and its hand-coloured plates — dense with putti, banners and allegorical figures — were reissued by Gerard Valk and Pieter Schenk in 1708. Copies are held by the Library of Congress, the Universiteitsbibliotheek Amsterdam and the Royal Astronomical Society.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.