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1595 Ortelius Map of Lake Como, Rome, and the Upper Adriatic
LakeComo-ortelius-1595$325.00
Title
Larii Lacus Vulgo Comensis Descriptio... / Terretorii Romani Descrip. / Fori Iulii Vulgo Frivli Typus.
1595 (undated) 14 x 20 in (35.56 x 50.8 cm) 1 : 80000
1595 (undated) 14 x 20 in (35.56 x 50.8 cm) 1 : 80000
Description
A beautiful example, in superb original color, of Abraham Ortelius' map of Lake Como, the vicinity of Rome, and the Upper Adriatic. It is considered the first map of those areas presented in an atlas. The map includes three maps on a single sheet, the largest representing Lake Como. While the book's first edition was released in 1570, Ortelius continually improved the work - both by adding new maps, and by refining the production of the book. Maps appearing in editions of the Theatrum in the 1580s and 1590s generally display, as here, a finer quality of color than those in the earlier issues of the work.
Lake Como: Larii Lacus (1:80000)
The largest map on the sheet, this map resents Lake Como oriented to the east with the city of Como at the far left. The map offers a novel presentation as if on a torn piece of parchment overlaying a panoramic view offering, at the outer edges, glimpses of Italian pastoral life. It is derived from the cartography of Paulus Jovius (1483 - 1552), a native of Como and a prosperous Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate. The map corresponds to ORT 129a.3 - thus being the third state, marked by elaborated hachuring.Rome and Environs: Terretori Romani (1:350000)
The second map, in the lower left, is oriented to the northwest and details the vicinity of Rome. There are some debates regarding Ortelius' sources, but most believe the map to be derived from either Eufrosino della Volpaia, (c. 1500 - 1552) or Pirro Ligorio. It corresponds to Ort 129B.2.Upper Adriatic: Fori Iulii (1:800000)
The third map, appearing in the lower left, details the Upper Adratic in the vincity of Marano Lagoon and the Gulf of Trieste, including Caorle, Grado, Monfalcone, and Trieste. It is based on cartography laid based on the geography of Gregorio Amaseo (1464 - 1541), via Giovanni di Vavassore, (c. 1510 - 1572). It corresponds to Ort 129C.2Publication History and Census
This map was engraved and first added to the Ortelius Atlas in 1570. The present example conforms typographically to the 1595 Latin edition of the work. This map is well represented in institutional collections and appears on the market from time to time.Cartographer
Abraham Ortelius (April 14, 1527 - June 28, 1598) also known as Ortels, was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer of Brabant, active in Antwerp. He was the creator of the first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and is a seminal figure in the history of cartography. Along with Gerard Mercator and Gemma Frisius, he was a founder of the Netherlandish school of cartography. His connections with Spain - culminating in his 1575 appointment as Royal Cartographer to King Phillip II of Spain - gave him unmatched access to Spanish geographical knowledge during a crucial period of the Age of Discovery. Ortelius was born in 1527 in Antwerp. In 1547 he entered the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as an illuminator of maps. He began trading in books, prints, and maps, traveling regularly to the Frankfurt book and print fair, where in 1554 he met Mercator. He accompanied Mercator on journeys throughout France in 1560 and it was at this time, under Mercator's influence, that he appears to have chosen his career as a scientific geographer. His first published geographic work appeared in 1564, an eight-sheet cordiform world map. A handful of other maps preceded the 1570 publication of the first edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, which would prove to be his life work. Appearing with but 53 maps in its first edition, Ortelius' work expanded with new maps added regularly. By 1592, it had 134 maps. Many of Ortelius' maps remained the standard for nearly a century. He traveled extensively, but his genius was as a compiler, locating the best informed maps on which to base his own. His contacts throughout Europe and extending even (via the Portuguese) to the Far East were formidable. Moreover, many of his maps were based on his own scholarship, particularly his historical works. His theories of geography were particularly ahead of his time with respect to the notion of continental drift, the possibility of which he mused on as early as 1596, and which would be proven correct centuries later.
In a sense his greatest achievement was his successful navigation of the religious and political violence endemic to his city throughout his adult life: The Dutch Revolt, or Eighty Years' War (1568 - 1648), fully embroiled Antwerp. Although outwardly and officially recognized as Catholic (Arias Montanus vouched for Ortelius' Catholic orthodoxy prior to his appointment as Royal Geographer), Ortelius was able to separate himself from the religious furor which characterized the war in the low countries. Ortelius showed a glimpse of himself in a letter to a friend, regarding humanist Justus Lipsius: 'I do not know whether he is an adherent of the Pope or a Calvinist, but if he has ears to hear, he will neither be one nor the other, for sins are committed on both sides'. Ortelius' own explorations of Biblical history in his maps, and the Christogram contained in his own motto, suggest him to be a religious man, but his abjuration of political religious authorities mark him as an individualist. His tombstone at St Michael's Præmonstratensian Abbey in Antwerp bears the inscription, Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole. ('served quietly, without accusation, wife, and offspring.') More by this mapmaker...
Source
Ortelius, A., Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, (Antwerp: Plantin) 1595.
Abraham Ortelius' magnum opus, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, was the world's first regularly produced atlas, which 'set the standards for later atlases . . . It was the first undertaking of its kind to reduce the best available maps to an uniform format.' (Koeman) A modestly-sized work of fifty-three maps in its first edition of May 1570, it was an immediate success: there were three further editions that year, and the work remained in print for a total of 32 editions, the last of which was 1641, well after its author's 1598 death. Ortelius added to his atlas constantly, and by 1595 the Theatrum contained 147 maps. Ortelius is renowned generally as an editor, and indeed much of the Theatrum is compiled from a variety of sources: in such cases, Ortelius was scrupulous in naming his sources. But Ortelius was also a mapmaker in his own right: many of his maps are a distillation of various sources into his own work, and there were many maps - particularly in his atlas of Biblical and ancient history Parergon - which were entirely Ortelius' work. In his role as an editor, Ortelius followed in the footsteps of Munster, whose Cosmographia was, until Ortelius, the best window on the world for the curious European reader. In terms of the artistry of his maps, Ortelius oversaw the first great flourishing of copperplate engraving in the service of cartography to occur in Northern Europe. Ortelius' work provided the model for the atlases of Mercator, Hondius, Blaeu and all their progeny in the 17th century - many of whom were to produce faithful editions of Ortelius' maps in their own productions.
Condition
Very good. Generous margins. Superb original color. Slight foxing.
References
Van der Krogt, P. C. J., Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, (3 Vols), 7026:31, 7010:31, 7071:31. Ort 129.