Atlas Coelestis seu Harmonia Macrocosmica

Frederik Hendrik van den Hove was a Dutch engraver active in the later seventeenth century. This title page was designed for Andreas Cellarius’s Atlas Coelestis, also known as Harmonia Macrocosmica, first published by Joannes Janssonius in Amsterdam in 1660. A second Janssonius edition followed in 1661, and the same title page was later reused by Gerard Valk and Pieter Schenk in their 1708 reissue. This example lacks the Valk and Schenk imprint on the title cloth and maybe an earlier Janssonius issue, either 1660 or 1661.

The title page presents astronomy as a learned discipline ordered through observation, instruments, and cosmographical tradition. Classical ruins in the background suggest the passing of older systems of thought, while the assembled astronomers and geographers represent the long history of celestial knowledge from antiquity to the early modern period. At the centre sits Urania, muse of Astronomy, surrounded by figures traditionally associated with major astronomical systems and traditions. Shirley identifies the seated figures in black as probably Tycho Brahe and Nicolaus Copernicus, though other scholars have suggested different identifications. Standing nearby are Claudius Ptolemy, probably al-Battani, and a figure identified as Alphonso V of Portugal holding a heliocentric model. The model’s placement may be a design error, since it would more naturally belong with Copernicus.

At the far right, Philip Lansberg points toward a celestial disc held by putti with sighting instruments. Lansberg’s presence refers to early seventeenth-century debates about celestial motion and the structure of the heavens. Above, putti support the title cloth beneath the Sun, Moon, stars, zodiac sign, and celestial phenomena, visually linking the title page to the astronomical contents of Cellarius’s atlas.

Within the collection, this Janssonius issue can be compared with the later Valk and Schenk reissue of the same title page (158).