Collection:
Louwman Collection of Historic Telescopes
Accession #:
LC 61
Sources:
Louwman, P.J.K., and Zuidervaart, H.J., "A Certain Instrument to See Far: Four Centuries of Styling the Telescope Illustrated by a Selection of Treasures from the Louwman Collection of Historic Telescopes". Wassenaar, 2009. p.80. #66.
Louwman, P.J.K., and Zuidervaart, H.J., "A Certain Instrument for Seeing Far: Four Centuries of Styling the Telescope Illustrated by a Selection of Treasures from the Louwman Collection of Historic Telescopes". Wassenaar, 2013. p.86. #61
Public Notes:
"Italian telescope attributed to Giuseppe Campani (1636-1715). Main tube covered with black coloured paper. Seven pasteboard drawtubes, covered with marbled paper. Ivory fittings and protective caps. The original objective has been replaced by a lens of later date. With reversing eyepiece suited for two different magnifications. This small tube bears the Italian text:
Quando questa parte sta dentro al / cannello si uede l’oggetto più grande (meaning: ‘if this side is in the tube, the object is seen larger’) and Quando questa parte stà dentro al / cannello si uede l’oggetto più chiavo (meaning: ‘if this side is in the tube, the object is seen more clearly’).
As Giuseppe Campani used to sign his telescopes on the objective, his signature is evidently missing in this instrument with a replaced objective lens. However, the way this telescope is made and for instance the text on the the reversing part of the eyepiece makes the attribution to Campani almost indisputable. Last quarter of the seventeenth century" (Louwman and Zuidervaart, 2013).
Dioptrice is made possible by the generous
support of the National Science Foundation, the National
Endowment for the Humanities, the Program in the History and
Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame, and the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum.
