“The Allegory of the Planets and Continents,” the 1752 painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, can be read almost like a star chart of the spirit.
Astronomers had arsenals of reflector telescopes aimed at the celestial bodies swirling in the night sky. In the 18th century, the solar system had been plotted and mapped. Detailed descriptions of the orbits of the planets and satellites were all charted.
