Gunzburg/Imagined Sky, 4. Reflections on the Farnese Atlas

In exploring the figures of the constellations on the celestial globe held by the so-called ‘Farnese Atlas’, this article reflects upon Ptolemy’s comment that ‘...in many cases our descriptions [of the constellations] are different because they seem to be more natural and to give a better proportioned outline to the figures described’ (Syntaxis Mathematica/ Almagest VII, 4). It suggests that, whereas most scholars writing on the history of constellation imagery tend to focus on two areas to support their findings—scientific data gleaned from early descriptions and depictions of the stars and iconographical details derived from Graeco-Roman mythology—more attention should be paid to the largely independent pictorial tradition that also helped to shape the heavens. By examining a wide range of visual sources, such as Greek vase painting, coins and sculptural reliefs, one can conclude that, in many cases, the role of the artist is neither as an inventor nor as a scientific draughtsman, but as a torch-bearer for the continuity of a specific set of widely accepted pictorial formulae. Working from this, I tentatively propose a new avenue of exploration for the mysterious grid-like figure on the Farnese Globe, often misidentified as the ‘Throne of Caesar’.