Signature:
Francûs de Bailloû S.C.R. Ap. Maiestãts Opticus fécit Mediolani 1753
Signature Notes:
Inscriptions:
No stand present.
Collection:
Louwman Collection of Historic Telescopes
Accession #:
LC 72
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.88-89. #77.
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.92. #72.
Public Notes:
"Main tube covered with black gilded leather. Five drawtubes covered with brown, so called kleisterpapier(‘paste paper’). Ferrules made of horn. The threaded lens fittings and protective caps are made from boxwood. Signed at the objective lens (Ø 3 cm): ‘Francûs de Bailloû S.C.R. Ap. Maiestãts Opticus fécit Med[io]l[a]ni 1753’ [meaning: ‘Franciscus de Baillou, Optician of her Royal and Imperial Majesty in Milan, 1753]. Length 49-150 cm, Ø 6 cm.
Franciscus (or François) de Baillou (ca. 1700-1774) was an instrument maker of French descent, working in Milan between 1734 and 1764. In 1750 he received the honorary title Regio Cesareo Ottico[‘Imperial Optician’] of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresia (1717-1780). After that he called himself also ‘Professeur d’Optique à Milan’. Baillou constructed various optical instruments. A more detailed description of this telescope is presented in Lualdi (1996)" (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.
