Instrument-making workshop

Gualterus Arsenius

Also recorded as: Arsenius, Gualterus · Gualterius, Arsenius · Walter Arsenius · Ferdinand Arsenius · Rennerus Arsenius · Regnier Arsenius · Ferdinandus Arsenius · Ferdinandus [Grabador] Arsenius · Arsenius, Gualterus; Arsenius, Ferdinand

Leuven workshop of Gemma Frisius's nephew, whose astrolabes were sought after across Europe.

Gualterus Arsenius, nephew of Gemma Frisius, made astrolabes, armillary spheres and other instruments in Leuven from the 1550s, and his sons Ferdinand and Regnier (Rennerus) continued the business, later also in Antwerp. Arsenius astrolabes are recognisable by their elegant retes and careful engraving and were owned by princes, prelates and scholars; examples survive in collections from Florence to London. Museum records sometimes divide the work between father and sons, and attributions within the workshop are not always certain.

Country: Low Countries (Spanish Netherlands)
City / centre: Leuven; Antwerp
Founded: Active c. 1554–1618 (family)
Status: Historical family workshop
Key people: Gualterus Arsenius; Ferdinand Arsenius; Regnier Arsenius

Innovations & specialities

Planispheric astrolabes in the Leuven style
Armillary spheres

Works by Gualterus Arsenius in the catalogue

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Clocks · 1550–1600

Wall clock by Arsenius Gualterius, Germany, 1550–1600

Musée du Louvre, Paris

Instruments · 1564

Astrolabe: Western, multiple-type

Adler Planetarium, Chicago

Instruments · 1565–1575

Astrolabe by Gualterus Arsenius and Ferdinand Arsenius, Belgium, 1565–1575

Science Museum Group, London

Instruments · 1565

Astrolabe by Rennerus Arsenius, 1565

History of Science Museum, University of Oxford

Instruments · 1569

Rennerus Arsenius astrolabe - CnAM 3907

Conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers

Instruments · c. 1570

Astrolabe attributed to Gualterus Arsenius, Belgium, c. 1570

Museo Galileo, Florence

Instruments · 1572

Astrolabe by Gualterus Arsenius, Belgium, 1572

Museo Galileo, Florence

Instruments · 1607–1618

Astrolabe made by Ferdinand Arsenius, Antwerp, Flanders, 1607–1618.

Science Museum Group, London

Instruments · 1618

Astrolabe by Ferdinandus [Grabador] Arsenius, Belgium, 1618

National Archaeological Museum

Linked through the Atlas maker authority list, which reconciles the spellings used by different institutions. Attributions are as stated by each holding institution or auction house.

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Magazine features

The Astrolabe: Telling Time by the Sun and Stars, from Alexandria to Lahore
For a thousand years the astrolabe was the most sophisticated timekeeping instrument in the world. How a flat brass disc models the sky, how it was used to find the hour and the direction of prayer, and how to read the hundreds of surviving examples in museum collections.