Getty Museum

Terrestrial Globe (Globe terrestre)

Date

about 1728

Medium

Printed paper; papier-mâché; poplar, spruce, and alder painted with vernis Martin; bronze

Culture

French

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

Jean-François Nollet, a noted scientist who taught physics to the French royal children, designed and assembled this globe, which shows a map of the earth's surface. In 1728 he dedicated it to the duchesse du Maine, the wife of Louis XIV's eldest illegitimate child. The duchesse was Nollet's most important patron and aunt to the comte de Clermont, to whom the celestial globe is dedicated. Louis Borde, the engraver of the map, also sponsored the costly printing process. He was the publisher who provided the money needed for the engraving of the copper plate, supervised the different stages of printing and the distribution of the prints, and remained in principle the owner of the plate.

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