Le Bouvier, Les Levriers, La Chevelure de Berenice

Copper engraving with hand-colouring

From the 1776 edition of ‘Atlas Celeste De Flamsteed'

20 x 25 cm plate size

£350

This beautiful engraving provides an extremely accurate and detailed star chart of the time with a captivating image showing The Herdsman and his greyhounds along with the chopped off hair of Egyptian Queen Berenice who had sacrificed it to Aphrodite for the safe return of her husband.

The original author of the atlas and its prints was John Flamsteed (1646-1719), the first Astronomer Royal, appointed by King Charles II. Publication was delayed due to a contentious relationship with Sir Isaac Newton who with Edmund Halley released a preliminary version of Flamsteed's work without naming him as author, resulting in Flamsteed destroying 300 of the 400 copies. The original folio sized charts were later published by his wife in 1729 after his death.

Fortin, a French maker of scientific instruments, later managed to obtain these charts and brought them down to a more commercial size for printing.