The Flammarion engraving that can be frequently seen on book covers sought to illustrate what belief system?
Flammarion engraving Flammarion engraving The Flammarion engraving is a wood engraving by an unknown artist, so named because its first documented appearance is in Camille Flammarion's 1888 book "L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire" ("The Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology"). The engraving has often, but erroneously, been referred to as a woodcut. It has been used to represent a supposedly medieval cosmology, including a flat earth bounded by a solid and opaque sky, or firmament, and also as a metaphorical illustration of either the scientific or the mystical quests for knowledge. In fact, even in the Early Middle Ages, almost all Christian scholars agreed the Earth was
Flammarion engraving the image to propagandize the myth that medieval Europeans widely believed the Earth to be flat. In his book, however, Flammarion never discusses the history of beliefs about the shape of the Earth. His text suggests that the image is simply a fanciful illustration of the false view of the sky as an opaque barrier. Flammarion engraving The Flammarion engraving is a wood engraving by an unknown artist, so named because its first documented appearance is in Camille Flammarion's 1888 book "L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire" ("The Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology"). The engraving has often, but erroneously, been referred to as a woodcut.