Message text written by Marcin Egert >Is this only a painter imagination ? Or maybe painters did it on purpose ? Or maybe "fake" armillary spheres were really produced (what for ? ).<
I suspect that it is indeed simply the mistake of the painter/engraver. In such times gnomonics was a University subject and so maybe it's not too surprising that the niceties got lost occasionally by those without such knowledge On the other hand there are several excellent paintings where the detail is surprisingly correct. I don't think that fake armillary spheres of the sort illustrated were produced (at least not in the UK anyway) but there are quite a few fake armillaries in the UK. They seem to have been made to put on top of pillars, gate posts and other structures in order to enhance a vista in a big garden. Such 'dials' have all the rings, arrow gnomon etc of a real armillary sphere - and they may even be oriented correctly - but they have no engraved time scale. Patrick --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
