1572/ 1620 Porcacchi View of Venice

This is Tommaso Porcacchi's 1572 map of Venice, from his popular and influential L'Isole più famose del mondo, the first 'isolario' or 'island book' to be printed from copperplates.

A Closer Look

It depicts the island-city, with the islands of the Venetian Lagoon framing it. The principal islands are named, and key structures are identified. From as early as 1500, artists depicting Venice seem to have been struck by Venice's unique topography, and to have been inspired to produce panoramas or bird's-eye views rather than simple plans. Porcacchi's specific model appears to be the 1571 Bertelli (Moretto 24), particularly hinging on their mutual depiction of the eastern side of the island San Giorgio Maggiore.

However small, the copperplate is attractively executed, with its neatly stippled waters within the lagoon distinct from the roiling waves outside of it. At the southern entry to the lagoon is a tidy compass rose, and its waters are plied by many sailing ships.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved for inclusion in the 1572 first edition of Porcacchi's isolario, and appeared subsequently in the Venice editions of 1576, 1590, 1603, 1605 and a 1620 Padua edition. Moretto identifies a second state in a private collection, which we suspect to be a later inclusion of the plate in a different work: the changes to Moretto's second state are not visible in confirmed examples of the 1620. The present example conforms to the one appearing in the 1620 L'Isole in the collection of the Bibliothèque National de France, although the example in the 1620 edition digitized by Ohio State University differs typographically, raising the possibility that two separate Padua editions were executed. This separate work appears on the market from time to time.