Accession No
2237
Brief Description
engraving of the Thomas Wright grand orrery, by C. Lempriere after G. Vandergucht, 1730 (c)
Origin
Maker
Lempriere, C. [engraver] Vandergucht, G. [original artist]
Class
astronomy; demonstration; prints
Earliest Date
1730
Latest Date
1730
Inscription Date
1730
Material
paper (card and one other); wood (hardboard and one other); plastic
Dimensions
breadth 835mm; height 634mm (measurements include frame)
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Christie's, lot 90, 12/11/1975. Formerly in the S.V. Hoffman Collection, New York Historical Society.
Inscription
‘MACHINA CŒLESTIS
or the GREAT ORRERY made
for the Academy in Tower Street,
by Thomas Wright Mathematical
Instrumt. maker to his MAJESTY
in Fleet Street LONDON.
1730.’ (top left)
‘MACHINA CŒLESTIS
ou le GRAND ORRERY fait pour
l’usage de l’Academie de Mr. Watts
a LONDRES par Mr. Wright Faiseur
d’Instruments Mathematiques
pour sa MAJESTE
1730.’ (top right)
‘C. Lempriere Delin. G. Vandergucht Sculp.
Price two Shillings 6 pence.’ (bottom)
Description Notes
Engraved print showing a grand orrery made by Thomas Wright. Orrery is mounted on 12-sided wooden base with elaborately scrolled feet. Explanations of the use of the orrery are provided in English and French. There are also English captions for the periods of the planets and satellites and the speed of rotation of the sun and planets, also for the numbered references to the diagram.
Mounted and framed with clear plastic glazing.
Condition good; complete.
References
Events
Description
This print shows Thomas Wright's first Grand Orrery made in 1730 for William Watts, the proprietor of the multilateral academy at Little Tower Street, London. This school had been established by Thomas Watts in 1715. It employed teachers of high reputation and offered a wide range of academic and vocational subjects from 'writing, arithmetic and merchant's accounts' to 'all parts of mathematics, courses of experimental philosophy' and 'classic and modern languages'.
This large print was sold at two shillings and six pence. A reduced version of the orrery only was used as frontispiece to Joseph Norris's 'Description and Use of the Globes and Orrery' (London 1731). In subsequent editions of that work, Wright advertised his 'Large ORRERYS, with the Motions of all the PLANETS and SATELLITES & the true Motionof Saturn's Ring'. He drew attention to the examples he had made for Mr Watt's Academy in Tower Street, his majesty at Kensington, and for the New Royal Academy at Portsmouth.
Wright's successor was still selling copies of this print in 1763, though by this date the price had been reduced to two shillings.
[Old display label]
30/08/2022
Created by: Morgan Bell on 30/08/2022
FM:45501
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