Senensis ditionis, accurata descrip./ Corsica/ Marcha Anconae, olim Picenum

  • Translation

Article ID EUI1391

Title

Senensis ditionis, accurata descrip./ Corsica/ Marcha Anconae, olim Picenum

Description

Map shows Siena in Tuscany, Corsica Island and Ancona in Marche with title cartouches and a representation of the coat of arms.

Year

ca. 1595

Artist

Ortelius (1527-1598)

Abraham Ortelius, (1527 - 1598) Antwerp, comes from an Augsburg family and was born in Antwerp, Spain, where he lived throughout his life. After thorough training, he joined the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1547 as a card painter. In 1554 he took over an antiquarian bookshop that mainly deals with the coloring, distribution and publishing of maps. Basically he is more of a publisher than a scholar. And so he also made the acquaintance of another great man of his time, Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594), who encouraged him to draw cards and to make maps of the most varied of countries. His first cartographic work of his own is a large 8-sheet map of the world that appears in Antwerp in 1564. This is followed by a two-sheet map of Egypt (1565) and another of Asia (1567). The great achievement of Ortelius, who was one of the most famous European cartographers of his time, and the enthusiastic reception of his theater, mark a decisive turning point in the history of the world map. The new path is mapped out with the Theatrum. For the general view of the world, the appearance of Ortelius-Theatrum is important insofar as it emphatically confirms that America is a completely independent continent, which is also not connected to the Asian mainland mass at its northern tip. Ortelius was the first to come up with the idea of ​​producing a handy collection of reliable maps, all kept in the same format and only by the same author for each country. These sheets could also be bound into a book for easy storage and use. Mercator, who also realized the idea of ​​a world atlas from 1569, persuaded his friend to publish the famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarrum. Ortelius collected, traveled, corresponded and negotiated for 10 years before he could have his work printed in the best European printing house (Plantijn / Amsterdam). In addition to technical difficulties, Ortelius had to submit to the political / religious conditions, since maps were also subject to strict scrutiny during the Inquisition. Biblical scenes are pleasant, portraits of outstanding Catholics are welcome, but not family coats of arms or other emblems that could be politically suspect. On May 20, 1570, his first edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first collection of maps in book form, was published, financed and edited by Gillis Hooftman, an Antwerp merchant, banker and shipowner. Atlases did not yet have this name at that time. This collection was published between 1570 and 1612 in 42 editions and in 7 languages: Latin, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, English and Italian. Unlike his professional colleagues, he clearly referenced the sources of his maps and texts. The work contains, among other things, an illustration of the world known until 1492 and was therefore already looking back at the time the map was created.

Historical Description

Central Italy is the central section of the Italy peninsula, which is divided into northern Italy, central Italy and southern Italy. It stretches from the Apennine ridge between La Spezia and Rimini to the historic northern border of the Kingdom of Naples. The southern boundary today runs along the rivers Tronto and Garigliano after changes in the provinces in the 1920s. Central Italy is formed by the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Lazio, whereby only Tuscany can be linguistically and culturally uniformly classified as Central Italy. Within these borders, central Italy also forms one of the five Italian macro regions. In ancient times, in northern Italy, unlike in southern Italy, there was hardly any Greek colonization. For the Roman Empire, Northern Italy was initially Gallia cisalpina. Since the Middle Ages, northern Italy has been characterized by remarkable trading cities, which, starting from the Veronese Confederation, united in the Lombardenbund against Emperor Barbarossa. The history of Italy, documented by written sources, begins only after the settlement by Italian peoples. Alongside them, the culture of the Etruscans, whose origin is unknown, was experienced around 600 BC. Their heyday. In the 8th century BC The Greek colonization of the southern Italian mainland and Sicily had begun, and Phoenicians settled on the west coast of the island. These colonies later belonged to Carthage. From the 4th century BC began the expansion of Rome. From the 5th century Italy came under the rule of Germanic tribes, the population declined drastically until around 650, and Ostrom briefly conquered the former core area of the empire in the 6th century. In the 8th century, the north, ruled by the Lombards for about two centuries, was annexed to the Franconian Empire, later to the Holy Roman Empire, while Arabs and Byzantines ruled in the south from the 11th century onwards. In most regions, feudalism prevailed in the early Middle Ages. The northern Italian municipalities, which came together in the Lombardenbund, were able to free themselves from the influence of the empire in the 12th and 13th centuries and establish their own territories. Of this multitude of territories, the most important were Milan, the sea powers Genoa and Venice, Florence and Rome, and the south of Italy, which was partly French and partly Spanish. After four centuries of fragmentation and foreign rule, the peninsula became politically united in the course of the Risorgimento national movement. The modern Italian state was founded in 1861.

Place of Publication Antwerp
Dimensions (cm)32,5 x 48 cm
ConditionSome restoration at centerfold
Coloringoriginal colored
TechniqueCopper print

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