FLORENCE FLORENZ

Sold

This 17th-century woodcut offers a detailed view of the Tuscan city, and boasts a highly decorative border. Note the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, just left of center. from Sebastian Munster's great compendium of knowledge, Cosmographia. One of the main features of this seminal work is the series of depictions, both regular maps and views, of cities and countries around the world. Issued when there was a growing population is Europe interested in places beyond their own neighborhood, Munster's work presented for many the first glimpse they had of the wider world. The views were often based on first hand drawings and the maps were based on the latest geographic information available to Munster, who was in contact with scholars and geographers around the continent. As such they present a remarkable glimpse of Europe in the early Rennaissance. In V.Good condition and beautifully hand colored. Koeman, Altantes Neerlandici, Volume II, Lan 9. SOLD

code : M2188

Cartographer : Sebastian Munster

Date : 900000/ 1580c Basel

Size : 35.5*41cms sheet

availability : Sold

Price : Sold

share :

Originally a scholar studying Hebrew, Greek and mathematics, Sebastian Munster (1489-1552) eventually specialised in mathematical geography and cartography. It was this double ability - as a classicist and mathematician - that was to prove invaluable when Munster set himself to preparing new editions of Solinus’ “Memorabilia” and Mela’s “De Situ Orbis”, two classical descriptive geographies containing maps, and his own two greatest works, the “Geographia” and “Cosmographia”. These reflect the widespread interest in classical texts, which were being rediscovered in the fifteenth century, and being disseminated in the later fifteenth and sixteenth century, through the new medium of printing.

The “Geographia” was a translation of Ptolemy’s landmark geographical text, compiled in about 150 AD., illustrated with maps based on Ptolemy’s calculations, but also, in recognition of the increased geographical awareness, contains a section of modern maps. In the first edition of the “Geographia”, Munster included 27 ancient Ptolemaic maps and 21 modern maps, printed from woodblocks. Subsequent editions of the “Cosmographia” were to contain a vast number of maps and plans.

One consequence of Munster’s work was the impetus it gave to regional mapping of Germany, but Munster was also the first cartographer to produce a set of maps of the four continents on separate maps. Most importantly, through his books (the “Geographia” and “Cosmographia” alone ran to over forty editions in six languages), Munster was responsible for diffusing the most up-to-date geographical information throughout Europe.