Vincenzo Maria Coronelli

Valsavia Superiore e Inferiore - Etching by V. M. Coronelli - Late 17th century

Late 17th century

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli was an Italian Franciscan, cartographer and encyclopedist. In 1663, very young, he entered the Franciscan order of the Friars Minor Conventual, becoming a novice in 1665 and 1701, he became Minister General. In 1671, Coronelli entered the Convent of Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari in Venice and 1672 in the order of the Collegio San Bonaventura in Grottaferrata. Later he also specialized in astronomy and Euclidean mathematics. From 1678, Coronelli began to work in geography and was commissioned to build globes that represented the Earth and the celestial bodies for the Duke of Parma Ranuccio II Farnese. In 1681, Coronelli moved to Paris, where he would remain two years, here the fame of Coronelli as master in the production of Globes became famous throughout Europe, so much so that Cardinal d'Estrées, a French ambassador of Louis XIV in Rome, he ordered two globes to be assigned to Louis XIV, to embellish the Royal Library of the Palace of Versailles. Returning to Venice in 1684, Coronelli was appointed cosmographer at the University of the Most Serene Republic of Venice and founded the Academy of the Argonauts, the first geographical society in the world.