VENICE CONTRASEHTUNG DER FURNEMEN STATT VENEDIG
£785
[Venice] Contrasehtung der furnemen Statt Venedig/sampt den umbligenden Inseln
Stunning early map view of Venice by Munster from a German edition of the Cosmography (Cosmographey oder beschreibung aller Länder).
The map depicts the historic city of Venice within the Venetian Lagoon. Rendered beautifully to contrast the calm shallow lagoon with the turbulent seas beyond the sand banks, the view depicts the sestiere of Venice and includes two text blocks describing the city and its history. The generalized style of many of the buildings allow finer architectural detail in churches, buildings, and city walls to stand out. A few sail boats can be seen in the waters.
Engraved by Christoph Stimmer his monogram C S in the bottom left corner.
One of the best examples of the Munster Venice I have seen.
Escellent hand colour
Mint
code : M5427
Cartographer : Sebastian Munster
Date : 1574 Basel
Size : 25*39 cms sheet size 34*44 cms
availability : Available
Price : £785
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.
