A very rare pair of Greuter's largest library globes. Stevenson's census in 1921 recorded 26 pairs and 15 single examples of the 19-inch globes, of which all examples were located in Italy, except for a pair in Frankfurt and single globes in Munich, Rotterdam and 2 in New York. Van der Krogt's census of globes in the Netherlands adds other examples in the Rijksmuseum and two more in the Maritime Museum, Rotterdam. This pair of globes has been skillfully restored in the late 19th-Century with new stands and meridians, the celestial with replacement restoration. In the case of the terrestrial, the globe construction is particularly light and may well be original gores laid over a new card and plaster base. Stevenson, however, in describing the terrestrial example in the Hispanic Society of America, New York notes that the papier-mache ball is of very light construction. The celestial, which was made four years later, has a heavier construction.
Greuter was born in Strasbourg in 1566, learning engraving in that city and continued his craft in Lyon and Avignon, and finally settled in Rome around 1610. He began making maps and globes; in these globes he copied the terrestrial information from Blaeu and for the celestial, published in 1636, he copied the work of Van den Keere and Plancius. In addition to the 49cm. globes, Greuter made a smaller 26½cm. diameter pair in 1638. His globes sold widely and successfully in Italy, and were republished by Rossi after 1638 and sgain by 1695 in Rome. Stevenson notes: "so well did he perform his work that he is entitled to rank with the leading globe makers of the Netherlans". Stevenson II pp. 55-58; Van der Krogt Gre 4-7.