Robertus de Bailly

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Robertus de Bailly
(French, fl. 1530)

Verrazano Globe, 1530

Gilded copper
Diameter 5 1/2 inches (133mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1912

Item description: 

One of the earliest dated globes, this gilded sphere depicts the world as known from the explorations of Giovanni da Verrazano, who journeyed to the New World in 1524. He sailed along the coast from South Carolina to Newfoundland, becoming the first European since the Norse colonizers of ca. 1000 to visit New York and Narragansett Bay. The globe, executed by sculptor Robertus de Bailly in 1530, was based on a 1529 map by Verrazano's brother, Girolamo. Like the map, it identifies the newly charted North American continent as Verrazana.