Italy who created a hundred or more vertical and vertical declining sundials in the French and Italian Alpes between 1830 and 1881. He worked exclusively in
Savoy
Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps.
Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south.
Savo ...
, in Piémont, the Valley of the
Ubaye
The Ubaye (; oc, Ubaia) is a river of southeastern France. It is long and flows through the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department. Its drainage basin is .Queyras and around Briançon.
Laying out the dial
Zarbula's method was one of observation then geometric construction. He did not need to know the latitude or declination of the wall, he did not use tables or calculations he just worked directly on the wall. All his dial were within 2° of the 45th parallel, simplifying the construction, and all gave five-minute accuracy.
*With a plumb bob he drew a vertical line on the wall. This is the "Noon Line".
*He hammered a rod into the wall at right angles to the vertical. This is known as the "centre of the dial", or C
*He observed and marked the shadow thrown by the tip of that rod, throughout a day. This line, technically known as a hyperbolic declination line.
*Using a set of compasses, he determines the line of symmetry on the wall. This is the "substyle line".
All the rest of the dial was laid out using a 45° square, with a 15° measure at the end.
* He drew a horizontal line at a point of choice on the dial plate. This was the "Horizon".
* The square was placed on the substyle facing outwards, it is slid into any convenient position where it cuts the horizon, and he drew a perpendicular line drawn to that point. This line is called the "equatorial". A line was drawn from that point to the centre of the dial; it was the 18h line (or 6h depending on the declination (d) of the wall). The points where the equatorial crosses the noon line and where the equatorial crosses the substyle line were important.
* He placed apex of the square on the substyle line, so the sides passed through the equatorial points mentioned. (The 12h and 18h markers). The apex point is called the "auxiliary equatorial centre".
* A protractor or squares drew off 15° intervals on the equatorial. These were connected to the centre of the dial: the hour lines. The distance from the auxiliary equatorial centre to the equatorial formed the substyle height at that point.
File:Zarbula-Hindu Circle.png
File:Zarbula-set-hourlines.png
File:Zarbula-auxiliary-equatorial-centre.png
File:Zarbula-set-hrs-on-equatorial.png
File:Zarbula-dial-face.png
The colours
Zarbula treated his paintings as
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
s so the body colour was embedded in the supporting lime mortar. He didn't use organic pigments, just
oxides
An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– (molecular) ion. with oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the E ...
. These do not fade in the strong alpine sunlight.
Existing Dials (cadrans)
Of the hundred dials by Zarbula, about 50 have survived, and a further dozen show visible traces.
In Hautes-Alpes, seven dials are protected as ''
monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
''.
His dials can be divided into three specific styles Öiseau (Birds), Geometric, Baroque. The birds that appear in the dials of the early 1840s include toucans,
jabiru
The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has been reported as far north as Mississippi. ...
s, parakeets and other exotic birds not seen in these mountains. The geometric works of the late 1840s and 1850s are noted or their simplicity, and contain a little '' trompe-l'œil'' to give the design some artificial depth. The baroque dials are contain birds, vases, full ''trompe-l'œil'' and false-marbling. They contain the symbols of the Second Empire (1852-1870) and
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
particularly the
Imperial Eagle
The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of the ...
. The dials produced after 1865 include the Masonic device of the Square and Compasses: this is co-incidental to the rise and acceptance of
mason
Mason may refer to:
Occupations
* Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces
* Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...