DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52695#0030
24
in the West. They are shown as two boys holding each other in their
arms. Mythographers identified them with the children of Zeus
and Antiope, the twins Amphion and Zethos. On the globe of Bylica
they are shown as youngsters both raising their left hands.
25. Cancer, the Crab (Fig. 23). The Crab is presented as an enormous
crayfish with a fish tail, protruding eyes, three pairs of legs, and
long pincers. Directly below the Crab, on the southern hemisphere, the
engraver placed Prokyon showing it as a small dog with hanging ears.
The dog has a collar with a ring for the lead and tongue hanging out.
26. Leo, the Lion (Fig. 24). The sign of the Lion is so realistic
and so accurate in detail that it looks as if it might have been drawn
from nature. After all, at the end of the fifteenth century this was
not entirely impossible, since many royal courts of that time had
zoological gardens and the town where the globe was constructed
was the seat of a magnificent court. The Lion is turned so that it
shows its left flank, it has a streaming mane and in its mouth two
rows of long sharp teeth. The paws are armed with powerful claws,
and the beast’s muscular body crouches for a leap. The long tail
is wound around the left hind leg and ends with a soft tuft. On the
shoulder of the animal, at the point marked Cor Leonis, there is
a star of the first magnitude known today under the name of Regulus.
At the end of the tail there is another star of the first magnitude,
which bears the inscription Cauda Leonis and is now named Denebola.
27. Virgo, the Virgin (Fig. 25). The Virgin is a winged young
girl standing in an upright position, her head turned to the right,
and the face with fine delicate features shown in profile. Her
plaited hair is wound tightly round the small head. At the shoulders
she has powerful wings reaching almost to her ankles. This
figure of the Virgin is probably derived from the Greek represen-
tations of Nike, Nemesis or Dike, such as the marble statuette from
the Dattari collection 28 which, though it dates from the time of the
Roman Empire, was quite certainly a copy of a Greek original.
This ancient type of Virgo had been adopted already by artists
of the Carolingian period, which is demonstrated by the ninth century
manuscript from the monastery of Prum now preserved in the
National Library of Madrid 29. The Virgin is dressed in a robe fitting
28 A. Sclilachter, Der Globus, ‘Berlin 1927, Fig. 2.
29 W. Neuss, Bine karolingische Kopie antiker Sternzeiclienbilder tm Codex 330'1
der Biblioteca Nacional zu Madrid [in:} Ztf. des D. Vereins fur Kunstwissenscdtaft,
1941, Vol. VIII, pp. 113—140, Fig. 5.
in the West. They are shown as two boys holding each other in their
arms. Mythographers identified them with the children of Zeus
and Antiope, the twins Amphion and Zethos. On the globe of Bylica
they are shown as youngsters both raising their left hands.
25. Cancer, the Crab (Fig. 23). The Crab is presented as an enormous
crayfish with a fish tail, protruding eyes, three pairs of legs, and
long pincers. Directly below the Crab, on the southern hemisphere, the
engraver placed Prokyon showing it as a small dog with hanging ears.
The dog has a collar with a ring for the lead and tongue hanging out.
26. Leo, the Lion (Fig. 24). The sign of the Lion is so realistic
and so accurate in detail that it looks as if it might have been drawn
from nature. After all, at the end of the fifteenth century this was
not entirely impossible, since many royal courts of that time had
zoological gardens and the town where the globe was constructed
was the seat of a magnificent court. The Lion is turned so that it
shows its left flank, it has a streaming mane and in its mouth two
rows of long sharp teeth. The paws are armed with powerful claws,
and the beast’s muscular body crouches for a leap. The long tail
is wound around the left hind leg and ends with a soft tuft. On the
shoulder of the animal, at the point marked Cor Leonis, there is
a star of the first magnitude known today under the name of Regulus.
At the end of the tail there is another star of the first magnitude,
which bears the inscription Cauda Leonis and is now named Denebola.
27. Virgo, the Virgin (Fig. 25). The Virgin is a winged young
girl standing in an upright position, her head turned to the right,
and the face with fine delicate features shown in profile. Her
plaited hair is wound tightly round the small head. At the shoulders
she has powerful wings reaching almost to her ankles. This
figure of the Virgin is probably derived from the Greek represen-
tations of Nike, Nemesis or Dike, such as the marble statuette from
the Dattari collection 28 which, though it dates from the time of the
Roman Empire, was quite certainly a copy of a Greek original.
This ancient type of Virgo had been adopted already by artists
of the Carolingian period, which is demonstrated by the ninth century
manuscript from the monastery of Prum now preserved in the
National Library of Madrid 29. The Virgin is dressed in a robe fitting
28 A. Sclilachter, Der Globus, ‘Berlin 1927, Fig. 2.
29 W. Neuss, Bine karolingische Kopie antiker Sternzeiclienbilder tm Codex 330'1
der Biblioteca Nacional zu Madrid [in:} Ztf. des D. Vereins fur Kunstwissenscdtaft,
1941, Vol. VIII, pp. 113—140, Fig. 5.