This finely engraved beautifully
hand coloured
original antique 2 x birds-eye
view of
the Bay of Pozzuoli -in
the Gulf of Naples - with The city of Pozzuoli & the
Port Of Baia visible
was published by Georg Braun
& Frans Hogenberg for the 1575 atlas of town plans
Civiates Orbis Terrarum Vol II intended as a
companion to Abraham Ortelius's master Atlas Theatrum
Orbis Terrarum published in 1570.
The Gulf of Naples
is a 10-mile wide gulf located in the south western
coast of Italy, (province of Naples, Campania region).
It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea & is
bordered on the north by the cities of Naples and
Pozzuoli. To the east is Mount Vesuvius, and on the
south by the Sorrentine Peninsula and its main town
Sorrento; the Peninsula separates it from the Gulf of
Salerno.
Pozzuoli
began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia. The Roman
colony was established in 194 BC, and took the Latin
name Puteoli 'little wells', referring to the many hot
springs in the area, most notably Solfatara. This is
because Pozzuoli lies in the center of the Campi Flegrei,
a caldera.
Puteoli was the great emporium for the Alexandrian grain
ships, and other ships from all over the Roman world. It
also was the main hub for goods exported from Campania,
including blown glass, mosaics, wrought iron, and
marble. The Roman naval base at nearby Misenum housed
the largest naval fleet in the ancient world. It was
also the site of the Roman Dictator Sulla's country
villa and the place where he died in 78 BC.
The local volcanic sand, pozzolana formed the basis for
the first effective concrete, as it reacted chemically
with water. Instead of just evaporating slowly off, the
water would turn this sand/lime mix into a mortar strong
enough to bind lumps of aggregate into a load-bearing
unit. This made possible the cupola of the Pantheon, the
first real dome.
Background of Civitates
Orbis Terrarum
The first volume of the Civitates
Orbis Terrarum was published in Cologne in 1572. The sixth and the final volume
appeared in 1617.
This great city atlas, edited by Georg Braun and largely engraved by Franz
Hogenberg, eventually contained 546 prospects, bird-eye views and map views of
cities from all over the world. Braun (1541-1622), a cleric of Cologne, was the
principal editor of the work, and was greatly assisted in his project by the
close, and continued interest of Abraham Ortelius, whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
of 1570 was, as a systematic and comprehensive collection of maps of uniform
style, the first true atlas.
For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively
latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few
cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00
inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan
period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was
probably 10 times that of any other English city. The
Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first
town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the
sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in
producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544
Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia
containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in
the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye
view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)
Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Green, blue, red, yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 21in x 16in (535mm x 410mm)
Plate size: - 19in x 12in (485mm x 310mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Professional repair to top centre margin
Plate area: - Small professional repairs & light age
toning to centrefold
Verso: - None |