Mathematical Treasure: Andreas Cellarius’s Harmonia Macrocosmica

Author(s):

Amy Ackerberg-Hastings (MAA Convergence)

Andreas Cellarius (ca 1596–1665) was born in the German lands but taught school in Amsterdam by 1625. From 1637 to his death, he directed a school in Hoorn, North Holland and wrote at least three books on military fortification, the geography of Poland, and cosmography. The final book, Harmonia Macrocosmica, seu Atlas Universalis Et Novus: Totius Universi Creati Cosmographiam Generalem, Et Novam Exhibens (The macrocosmic harmony, or universal and new Atlas, presenting a general and new cosmography of the entire created universe. Discussing the harmonious construction of all the worlds of the whole world, according to different authors), examined the systems posited by several well-known and obscure figures. It was published in 1660, but most surviving copies were printed in 1661. The 29 engravings in many of those volumes were colored by hand, resulting in diagrams that remain popular with readers and textbook authors.

The frontispiece suggests the gorgeous images that are to follow, with its depiction of Tycho Brahe (seated), Ptolemy, an unknown figure, Urania (seated), King Alfonso el Sabio, Philips Lansbergen (who wrote an earlier work on cosmology that Cellarius used as a model), and Nicolaus Copernicus (seated).

Frontispiece from Andreas Cellarius's 1661 Harmonia Macrocosmica.

The title page and dedication to Charles II (1630–1685), who had just become King of England and Ireland as well as King of Scotland in the Restoration of 1660, are shown below.

Title page from Andreas Cellarius's 1661 Harmonia Macrocosmica.