THE OLD AND THE NEW ROME: FRANCESCO BIANCHINI’S ASTRONOMICAL EXCHANGES WITH THE COURT OF LISBON

Abstract

In the 1720s a patronage relationship developed between King João V (1689-1750) of Portugal and the Ital- ian astronomer Francesco Bianchini (1662-1729). This was hardly surprising in a time when Portuguese dip- lomatic and cultural relations with Rome were so intense. Dom João V ambitioned to be treated by the papa- cy on a par with Spanish and French kings who held the titles Rex Catholicissimus and Rex Christianissimus. Bianchini dedicated his opus magnum, the book Hesperi et Phosphori (Rome, 1728), to the Portuguese monarch, the generous patron of the opulent volume. In this work the Veronese presented detailed observations of the planet Venus and the cartography of spots he saw on its apparent face. Bianchini labeled those features hon- oring Portuguese and Italian historical figures. The dedication, inscribing the glory and power of the Portu- guese king in the heavens, is to be seen in the context of the preceding cases of Galileo, with his four Medi- cian Stars, and of Giovanni Domenico Cassini‘s discovery of four moons of Saturn, dedicated to Louis XIV. If to Dom João V this patronage was part of an effort to enhance status and prestige of the Portuguese monar- chy in Europe, in particular within the catholic world, to Bianchini it meant an opportunity to accomplish and communicate more efficiently his astronomical discoveries.