Lafreri atlases
Encyclopedia
Especially in the important trading centers of Rome
and Venice
, many individual maps were printed in Italy from about 1544. Each publisher worked independently, producing maps based upon his own customers' needs. These maps often varied greatly in size.
Over time, it became common to bind maps together into composite works. Although the word "atlas" was not in use for these composite works until 1570, they now are termed "IATO [Italian, Assembled To Order] atlases" or, more frequently, "Lafreri atlases" (one of the leading publishers of the period, Antonio Lafreri is thought to have been the first to add an engraved title page to a collection of maps -- around 1570 or 1572 http://www.mapforum.com/01/lafreri.htm, the same time as the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
was published in Antwerp.
Each of the atlases was put together from a list of many different available maps, chosen to satisfy the needs or request of the individual customer; so few if any atlases are identical. About sixty or seventy of these atlases survive today, most held in institutions. The atlases are very important in the history of cartography, for many sixteenth-century Italian maps survive only in these atlases.
Collectors of antique maps value Lafreri atlases highly for their lovely engraving style and because of their rarity.
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, many individual maps were printed in Italy from about 1544. Each publisher worked independently, producing maps based upon his own customers' needs. These maps often varied greatly in size.
Over time, it became common to bind maps together into composite works. Although the word "atlas" was not in use for these composite works until 1570, they now are termed "IATO [Italian, Assembled To Order] atlases" or, more frequently, "Lafreri atlases" (one of the leading publishers of the period, Antonio Lafreri is thought to have been the first to add an engraved title page to a collection of maps -- around 1570 or 1572 http://www.mapforum.com/01/lafreri.htm, the same time as the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Abraham Ortelius and originally printed on May 20, 1570, in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and sustaining text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically...
was published in Antwerp.
Each of the atlases was put together from a list of many different available maps, chosen to satisfy the needs or request of the individual customer; so few if any atlases are identical. About sixty or seventy of these atlases survive today, most held in institutions. The atlases are very important in the history of cartography, for many sixteenth-century Italian maps survive only in these atlases.
Collectors of antique maps value Lafreri atlases highly for their lovely engraving style and because of their rarity.
Cartographers of the Lafréri atlases
The most notable cartographers involved in publication of the Lafreri maps and atlases include:- Giacomo GastaldiGiacomo GastaldiGiacomo Gastaldi was an Italian cartographer of the 16th century. Gastaldi began his career as an engineer, serving the Venetian Republic in that capacity until the fourth decade of the sixteenth century...
- based in Venice; the most important Italian mapmaker of his time - Battista AgneseBattista AgneseBattista Agnese was a cartographer from the Republic of Genoa, who worked in the Venetian Republic.In 1525 he prepared an early map of Muscovy that was based on the geographical data, narrated to Paolo Giovio by the Russian ambassador Dmitry Gerasimov.His workshop produced at least 71 manuscript...
- Genoa - Antonio Lafreri (or Antoine du Pérac Lafréry 1512-77) - Rome; publisher of some of the composite atlases
- Antonio Salamanca - Lafreri's partner
- Giovani Francesco Camocio - Venice
- Donato Bertelli - Venice
- Ferando Bertelli - Venice
- Paolo Forlani - Venice
External links
- http://www.mapforum.com/01/lafreri.htm
- http://www.mostlymaps.com/reference/Map-Makers/lafreri-school.php
- Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae at the University of Chicago
- World Digital LibraryWorld Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress.The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide...
presentation of Antoine du Pérac Lafréry's Geografia Tavole Moderne di Geografia or Modern Geographic Table of Geography. Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. Primary source map of the Great Siege of Malta, published in Rome, 1565.