forced to relinquish his pastoral duties to a curate. For the remaining
eight years of his life, he continued to live in the rectory of the
little parish church in Mechel where most of his life had been spent,
his needs undoubtedly attended by the parishioners he could no longer
serve. During this period, until his death at the age of 79 on June 12,
1802, Father Borghesi lived on, oblivious of those around him.
Seemingly, he retired to another world; perhaps to that universe which
he had tried to reproduce in his second clock.
The Clocks of Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla
The ingenuity displayed in the Borghesi clock by its constructor,
Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla, requires a consideration of the other
examples of his work that have survived. The most important of his
clocks are probably the one in the Episcopal Palace at Trent and another
made for the Baron of Cles.
The one which survives in the Episcopal Palace to the present time, is
extremely tall and is housed in an elaborately decorated narrow case of
black or ebonized wood approximately 9 to 10 feet in height. The upper
part of the case is decorated with elaborately carved and gilt rococo
motifs. The movement operates for one year at a winding, indicates and
strikes the hours, and shows the lunar phases. It has an alarm, and will
repeat the strike at will, indicating the number of the past hour and
the quarters. The gilt brass dial is decorated with silver-foliated
scrollwork in relief at the corners, inside the chapter ring, and within
the broken arch. Featured above the chapter ring is the coat of arms,
executed in silver, of the patron for whom the clock was made,
Cristoforo Sizzo di Noris. Di Noris was Bishop of Trent for 13 years,
from 1763 to 1776.
The clock which Bertolla made for the Baron of Cles is a tall, narrow,
case clock of ebony or ebonized pearwood which is approximately 9-1/2
feet in height. The decoration of the case is considerably more
conservative than the one made for Di Noris, but the black wood is
decorated with silver trim and carved designs in the wood itself. The
dial is decorated with silver scrollwork and spandrels within and around
a raised chapter ring. The clock operates for one month at each winding,
has an alarm, indicates and strikes the hours, and will repeat the
quarters. This handsome timepiece is still in the possession of the
descendants of the Baron of Cles.
[Illustration: Figure 21.--TALL-CASE CLOCK BY BERTOLLA in the Episcopal
Palace in Trent, made for Bishop Cristoforo Sizzo di Noris. A striking
and repeating clock with lunar phases. (_Courtesy of Museo Nazionale
della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 22.--INTERIOR OF BERTOLLA'S WORKSHOP, showing
detail of ceiling. (_Courtesy Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della
Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 23.--INTERIOR OF BERTOLLA'S WORKSHOP, showing the
main workbench and the collection of clockmakers' tools. (_Courtesy of
Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 24.--FUSEE CUTTER used by Bertolla. Now in the
collection of the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica,
Milan.]
[Illustration: Figure 25.--INTERIOR OF BERTOLLA'S WORKSHOP, showing
details of paneling and floor case with Bertolla manuscripts. (_Courtesy
of Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
According to Pippa,[19] certain characteristics become apparent in a
study of the surviving clocks by Bertolla. The tall-case clocks are
narrow and range in height from 7-3/4 feet to 10-1/2 feet. The cases had
this excessive height in order to obtain the greatest fall for the month
and year movements which Bertolla constructed. For the weight assembly,
he substituted a drum wound with a key at the point of the driving wheel
in place of the customary pulley. The addition of an intermediate wheel
augmented the drop of the weight.
Bertolla's movements were solidly constructed from well-hammered brass
and iron. He favored the recoil anchor escapement in his clocks and the
Graham dead-beat anchor escapement with a seconds' pendulum. The
escapement was not always placed in the traditional location in the
upper center between the plates. Bertolla occasionally displaced the
pendulum to one side, to the lower part of the movement or placed it
entirely between two other small plates.[20]
He utilized every type of striking work, including the music-box
cylinder common in the clocks of the Black Forest and the rack and
snail. Bertolla most frequently employed the hour strike and _grand
sonnerie_. He often used a single hammer on two bells of different sound
with the rack and snail. An example of this type is the clock he
produced at the age of 80. To achieve the necessary axis of rotation for
the hammer, which is perpendicular to the plate when it strikes the
hours, it moves to an oblique position and displaces one of the two long
pins in an elongated opening.
Bertolla's dial plates were generally well executed, with a raised or
separate chapter ring applied to a brass or copper plate, such as a
copper-plate _repousse_ and gilt with baroque motifs, or upon a smooth
brass plate with spandrels of _repousse_ work usually of silver, in
relief and attached. The engraving of the chapter rings was excellent.
The hands were well executed in steel or perforated bronze, and
occasionally of _repousse_ copper; gilt was applied to the hands made of
forged steel.
[Illustration: Figure 26.--DIAL PLATE of a brass lantern clock made by
Bertolla, found in his workshop after his death. (_Courtesy of Museo
Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
In the course of time, Bertolla's home workshop passed from one
generation to another within the family. Inevitably, it underwent many
modifications until the only original part of the building that remained
intact from Bertolla's time was his clockshop.
[Illustration: Figure 27.--MOVEMENT of a brass lantern clock made by
Bertolla. (_Courtesy of Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica,
Milan._)]
Within the last few years, the workshop room was acquired complete with
contents from Bertolla's descendants, and installed in the Museo
Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica in Milan as an exhibit of a
typical 18th-century clockmaker's shop. The original workshop was
dismantled in Mocenigo di Rumo and completely rebuilt in the museum,
including the walls, ceiling and floor. The paneling and woodwork of the
walls and ceiling, which have been preserved intact, are hand-cut fir,
with columns, trim and moldings carved by hand. A small painting is
featured in the center of the coffered ceiling. The original shop
benches and chests of drawers are set around the reconstructed shop and
Bertolla's tools and equipment laid out as they had been originally.
Other clockmaker's tools and equipment in the museum's collection are
also displayed. Approximately 40 percent of the tools are the original
items from Bertolla's shop. Parts of clocks and works in progress are
on view on the benches as they were in Bertolla's time.[21] Also
preserved in the museum are sketches found in Bertolla's manuscripts,
some of which are reproduced on the following pages.
[Illustration: Figure 28.--DETAIL OF WALL of Bertolla's workshop, with
regulatory clock made by his nephew, Alessandro Bertolla of Venice. Note
wheel layouts, etc., scribed in the paneling. (_Courtesy of Museo
Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 29.--TABLE CLOCK BY BERTOLLA in the collection of
Doctor Vittorio dal Lago of Bergamo. The dial indicates the days of the
week and of the month, the names of the months and lunar phases. The
clock strikes the hours and quarters and repeats. (_Courtesy of Sig.
Luigi Pippa of Milan._)]
The shop contains two completed clocks made by Bertolla. One is a
weight-driven lantern clock typical of the 18th century, Italian style
with brass dial, plates and posts, anchor escapement, and striking
work. The dial is engraved in the usual style of Bertolla's baroque
design, and the hands are of pierced bronze. Another clock associated
with Bertolla and found in the shop, was made by his nephew, Alessandro
Bertolla, who worked in Venice after his apprenticeship with his uncle
had been completed. This clock is a regulator with a seconds' pendulum
and sweep hand on an enameled dial. The original case has not survived.
[Illustration: Figure 30.--LAYOUT OF THE WHEELWORK of a clock made by
Bertolla for His Excellency Paulo Dona, inscribed "Design No. 1."
(_Courtesy of Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 31.--PENDULUM ARRANGEMENT SKETCH for an
unidentified clock found in Bertolla's workshop. (_Courtesy of Museo
Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 32.--STRIKING CLOCK SKETCH found in Bertolla's
manuscripts. (_Courtesy of Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della
Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 33.--FIFTEEN-DAY STRIKING CLOCK SKETCH, inscribed
"Design No. 3," found in Bertolla's workshop. (_Courtesy of Museo
Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 34.--DIAL PLATE of a brass lantern clock made by
Bertolla at the age of 80. (_Courtesy of Museo Nazionale della Scienza e
della Tecnica, Milan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 35.--MOVEMENT of brass lantern clock produced by
Bertolla at the age of 80, showing details of movement and double bell.
(_Courtesy of Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan._)]
One of the most interesting of Bertolla's clocks, and probably the last
one which he produced, was found in his workshop. This timepiece
indicates the hours, minutes and quarters by means of a single hand or
index. The weight-driven clock strikes the hours and quarters on two
bells with a single hammer. The chapter ring, which is soldered to the
dial plate, is marked for the minutes on the outer rim and for the four
quarters inside it. Over the center of it, is a semicircular opening in
the dial plate through which is visible a revolving disk attached behind
the dial plate. This disk is marked with the hours and revolves from
right to left, the current hour being indicated by a projection from the
minute ring. The brass dial plate is engraved with simple floral
designs in the corners and around the broken arch. There is no
comparison between this crude and simple decoration and the extremely
fine quality of the engraving on the dial plate of the Borghesi clock,
for instance. In the center of the dial plate is engraved the following:
"Questo orologio l'ideai e lo feci nella mia avanzata eta
d'anni 80. Bart^{o} Ant^{o} Bertolla"
(I designed and made this clock at my advanced age of 80 years.
Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] BORGHESI, _Novissimum Theorico-Practicum Astronomicum Authoma Juxta
Pariter Novissimum Mundi Systema..._, pp. 8-9.
[2] WENHAM, "Tall Case Clocks," p. 33.
[3] VON BERTELE, "The Development of Equation Clocks," parts 1 through
5.
[4] ENGELMANN, _Philipp Matthaeus Hahn_; VISCHER, _Beschreibung
mechanischer Kunstwerke..._.
[5] LLOYD, _Some Outstanding Clocks Over Seven Hundred Years,
1250-1950_, pp. 116, 118, 120.
[6] SAN CAJETANO, _Praktische Anleitung fuer Kuenstler..._.
[7] FRANCH, _La Valle di Non_.
[8] BONOMI, _Naturalisti, Medici e Tecnici Trentini_, p. 16
[9] AMBROSI, _Scrittori ed Artisti Trentini_, pp. 132, 525.
[10] Ibid.
[11] PIPPA, "Antonio Bartolomeo Bertolla," pp. 22-23.
[12] Ibid., p. 22.
[13] Ibid., p. 23.
[14] The abbreviation in the inscription "pLan" is difficult to
interpret. According to Father F. X. Winters, S.J., it may represent
"sit planetis" or "sit planetarum." The use of an abbreviation was
necessary to prevent the addition of another letter I or M, which would
have disturbed the formation of the chronogram desired. Literally, "sit
planetis" means "May he be eternal ruler _by_ [or _through_] favor of
the planets," while "sit planetarum" is to be translated "May he be
eternal ruler _of_ the planets." Father Winters considered both versions
somewhat overexaggerated and proposed that the best translation might be
"Long Live Francis I, Emperor."
[15] The word "Tempe" refers to the Vale of Tempe, in Thessaly, through
which the Peneus River flows. It is between Mounts Olympus and Ossa, and
is situated between the town of Larissa and the sea. In mythology, it is
told that these mounts were originally joined and Hercules separated
them to allow the river to pass between them. The word "Tempe" is also
used to mean any pleasant place. Thus, the inscription "Tempe
indesinenter clausa, Scaturigo signata" is literally translated "Tempe
always closed, A fount of water sealed up" or, freely translated, as "A
garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up."
[16] "Phoebi" or Phoebus, called Apollo, the sun god; Phoebes or Diana,
the moon goddess, sister of Apollo.
[17] PIPPA, op. cit. (footnote 11), pp. 23-25.
[18] PERINI, _Statistica del Trentino, Biblioteca Communale del
Trentino_, vol. 2, p. 57 (cons. 6, carta 9); TOVAZZI, _Biblioteca
Tirolese_, pp. 406-407.
[19] PIPPA, op. cit. (footnote 11), pp. 24-25.
[20] PIAMONTE, _La Nauna Descritta al Viaggiattore_.
[21] ESPOSTI, "La Sala 'Innocente Binda' al Museo della Scienza e della
Tecnica di Milano," pp. 18-21.
Appendix
SYNOPSIS OF THE COMPLETE MECHANICAL WORKS OF THE FIRST CLOCK
[Translated from the section entitled "Synopsis Totius Operis
Mechanici" in Francesco Borghesi's first book _Novissima Ac
Perpetua Astronomica Ephemeris Authomatica
Theorico-Practica..._.]
I
Of three movable indices, the farthest from the center of the dial is
fitted with an index on either side and marked with four segments of a
circle. Immediately below are five numbers, divided into the days of
setting the measure of the mean-synodic age of the moon, and into signs,
degrees of the signs, and of the distance of the moon from the sun.
These, in each revolution, revolve once around the solar disk
superimposed on the mean synodic-lunar disk, and also around the lunar
disk. The upper indices, meanwhile, in the two external greatest orbits,
measure the time continuously, in the accustomed manner of the
Germans--the middle index measuring by hours and the uppermost by the
first minutes [of hours].
II
Inside these three circles, perpendicular above their center, is a small
index of the seconds of minutes. At each first minute of time, being the
fastest of all, it describes the smallest orbit. Next to this are two
other slightly larger circles divided into 30 degrees, one [rotating?]
from the right, the other from the left. These two indices are arranged
in such a fashion that the one rotating from the observer's left
completes its period 12 times during one, mean, solar-astronomical year.
The one [rotating] from the right likewise completes its cycle 12 times
during the period of one mean-synodic moon. In between these, there is
placed another small sphere, divided into 40 arbitrary parts, whose dial
does not move automatically, but is moved by hand for speeding up or
slowing down the course of the time, or of the perpendicular.
III
Diagonally from the sides of the center of the three larger indices, six
other indices revolve: three on the left from one center, and three on
the right from another. The uppermost of the three which are on the
right of the observer [and which are] decorated with a small disk of the
sun, runs its cycle once during a mean solar-astronomical year. The
second measures the distance of the sun from its apogee. The third
revolves 12 times, with each lunar revolution from one node to the same
[repeated] node. Under the point of the uppermost index, first lie the
months of the year which are inscribed, and the days of each month, but
having only 28 days assigned to February; then the signs of the zodiac,
and their several degrees. The circle corresponding to the middle index,
extending through the first semicircle from apogee to the lower perigee
and returning through the second semicircle to the upper locations of
apogee, shows the true equation or eccentricity of the sun, joined with
the little equation of the moon in syzygy. [These equations are]
measured by geometric-astronomic proportion for each distance of the
sun from its apogee or perigee in degrees, and in sufficiently small
parts of degrees, with the title added above in their proper places,
whether an addition is to be made to the mean location of the sun or a
subtraction from the same, so that the true longitude of the sun may be
calculated. Three circles are assigned to the lowest index, of which 30
degrees of distance of the moon from its nodes comprise the larger. The
middle circle is based on the hypothesis of the mean invariable
diameters (that is, of the sun, the moon, and the terrestrial shadow),
and is divided into hours and quarters of duration. The last circle is
divided by the trigonometric laws into the inches of magnitude of lunar
eclipses. Lying between these circles, there is another eccentric circle
(black with a spot) exhibiting the shadow of the earth, in which the
little moon sinks itself, carried by the lowest index. In any ecliptic
full moons, the patent number of inches of immersion somehow affects the
minds of the cultured, but also the scheme of maximum obscuration
affects the eyes of the illiterate themselves.
IV
Of the three indices which revolve from the left, the uppermost
completes its cycle within 12 hours, just as the hour index. The middle
one with two pointers on diametrically opposite sides, carries the marks
of conjunction and opposition of the luminous bodies, with a movement
equal to the course of the sun from lunar apogee or perigee. The lowest
index, fitted with a single pointer, indicates the motion of the moon
from its apogee or perigee. Under these three indices, there is situated
a common circle, divided into 12 parts, each of which are further
divided into 30 parts through its outer circumference. I have said a
common circle, for, with respect to the first index, the division
represents 12 hours, and the double subdivision representing the double
set of minutes of the hours serves for an excitator for anytime at all,
at will. For as often as the little index reaches the twelfth hour,
first being moved by hand wherever you prefer, a little hammer strikes
the little bell many times. But if you observe the second or the third
index, the first division provides the signs, and the subdivision of the
signs gives the individual degrees of the distance of the sun from the
lunar apogee, or of the moon from its apogee, respectively. To this is
added two other interior circles from the same center: to the larger is
inserted the equation of the center of the moon in its conjunctions and
oppositions; and on the smaller the equation of the same moon in its
quarters, astronomically-geometrically proportioned to the distance of
the moon from its apogee or perigee. In the first case, the equation is
to be subtracted from the mean longitude of the moon, descending from
apogee to perigee; in the second case, to be added to the mean longitude
of the moon ascending from perigee to apogee; and, in the third
semicircle of the index, as the rubric directs, common to both
equations, added around the center.
V
Perpendicularly under the center of the machine, two other indices are
carried about one and the same center. The one nearer to the
observer--bearing in one of two points diametrically opposite the small
disk of the sun, in the other the disk of the moon--runs a course equal
to the motion of the sun from the head or the tail of the dragon
(_Draco_). The other, of simple construction, marked with a small moon,
signifies in like manner the motion of the moon from the head or the
tail of the dragon.
Immediately below, there is a larger circle, common [referring] to both
these indices, which is divided into 12 parts. Each of these parts in
turn, in the outer periphery, is subdivided further into 30 parts, which
are the 12 signs of the zodiac and the individual degrees of the signs
of distance of the sun and the moon from the head of the dragon.
In the second circle is read the latitude of the moon, measured by
degrees, etc., on a trigonometric scale, by signs and degrees of
distance of the moon from its nodes, that is, from the head or tail of
the dragon. When the second index is descending from the head of the
dragon to the tail, the latitude will be to the north of the solar path;
that is, the ecliptic. On the other hand, it will be south of the
ecliptic when the same index is returning upward from the tail to the
head of the dragon as advised by the title inscribed on the third
circle.
Finally, on the fourth and last circle are seen more prime minutes of
the circle for reducing the orbit of the moon to the ecliptic. That the
true longitude of the moon may be obtained more accurately, these must
be subtracted from the longitude of the moon already calculated in the
first and third quadrant of the circle of the second index. On the other
hand, they are to be added to the same in the second and fourth
quadrant, as is noted in their respective places, according to the
theory of right ascensions.
Here, then, [you have] as finally completed, delineation of the great
index which was partially described before in this book.
From two points of that index which perpendicularly correspond to the
center of these circles, a pair of compasses, by an unvaried aperture up
to the circumference of the first larger circle, has marked off four
segments of a circle. The two larger segments, equal among themselves,
in one aperture refer to the sun, and the two smaller in the other,
likewise equal, refer to the moon. The one pointer is for determining
the solar eclipses; the other, for lunar. Both segments of each
division, like little wings of the index, stretch to the extent of the
degree of distance of the moon from its nodes, and to which that
determined latitude corresponds. On one side, that latitude precisely
equals the radii of the earth, the sun, and the moon, as the termini of
solar eclipses; and, on the other side, precisely equals the radii of
the earth's shadow and of the moon, as the confines of lunar eclipses.
The apexes of the last index, diametrically limited [opposite], indicate
the age of the moon, and its mean distance from the sun; one pointer,
upon which the sun sits, measuring the mean days and degrees from the
full moon; the other, on which the moon sits, measuring the mean days
and degrees from the new moon.
VI
Besides the larger and smaller indices already mentioned, all [of which]
revolve within the periphery of the three largest circles, six dials in
this clock also revolve within the same circles which are to be seen
through six openings of the frontispiece. The first of these, intended
to indicate the phases of the moon by an unusual method (completely
black, and decorated with the characters of the principal aspects of the
moon) continually revolves interiorly around the center of the machine
and at the new moon, it completely removes from sight the face of the
moon through the round window. It continually recedes through the first
half of the circle until, at the time of the full moon, it restores the
moon, looking out with a full star. Soon again, too slow to be
observed, it returns through the other half of the circle, so that in
the next conjunction, the whole face of the moon may have a covering of
darkness, once again to be removed.
The other dials are moved by spontaneous advances at stated times. The
first of these shows, through a square opening, the day of the month;
the second, through another opening, shows the current day of the week
with the characters of the seven planets which, according to ancient
superstition, preside over each day of the week (now, by a truer form of
religion divided by the Church into ferias, etc.); that is, the sun, the
moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, to which I have added
the numbers of the ferias. These two little dials are advanced daily, by
a sudden movement at midnight. The remaining three are changed
automatically only once a year on the first of January.