Planetary System

This coloured lithograph presents an image of the solar system, up to the planet Uranus. Surrounding the central diagram are four images: a telescope, a globe, a sundial and a book. The telescope appears with the names Galileo and Metius, referring to Galileo Galilei, one of the first to turn a telescope to the sky in 1609, and Jacob Metius, a Dutch optician, who filed a patent claim for the telescope in 1608. The terrestrial globe refers to the astronomers Copernicus and Hevelius; the sundial to the instrument-maker and lecturer James Ferguson (see PAJ4016); and the book (open at pages with geometrical and astronomical figures and the word "Astronomy" to Herschel. Given the date of this print it is likely that this book represents John Herschel's "Elements of Astronomy" (1832).

The publisher Willliam Darton specialised in publishing maps and books for children and it is likely that that this image, which is not self-explanatory, accompanied a magazine or book.

Object Details

ID: PAJ3455
Collection: Fine art
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Barfoot; Lingham, S. William Darton & Son
Date made: 1781-1840; 1829-1839 1830-1836 1830-1840
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: 368 x 440 mm