Louis-Charles Desnos

(1725-1805)

Terrestrial Globe

1768

wood and paper

44 x 45 Ø cm

Inv. no. V00116a

BBVA Collection Spain


A pair of terrestrial and celestial globes both made in pasteboard with applied hand-coloured engraved paper. The globes are surrounded by meridian rings and fitted in a black and gold lacquered wood support, with a circular base and cross-bracing that sustains estipite column legs on which the ecliptic sits.

The engravings of the globes consist of 12 gores plus 2 circular pieces for the polar caps.

Louis-Charles Desnos was a cartographer and maker of globes and mathematical instruments who settled in Paris where he worked for, among others, the King of Denmark Christian VII.