Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Beatus Map, 1109
This world map comes from a beautifully illuminated copy of Beatus of Liébana's ‘Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John’, a religious text from the 8th century held in high esteem by medieval Christians. This copy was made at the Spanish Monastery of San Domingo de Silos in 1106, a time when the monastery’s scriptorium was producing some of its finest work.
Adam and Eve are shown with the serpent against a dark green background representing the verdant Garden of Eden.
Its picture of a world centred round the Mediterranean Sea is virtually unchanged since the 8th century and reflects an even older world-view inherited from Roman times. Beyond the Red Sea is a hint of an undiscovered fourth continent that some ancient thinkers - among them, Pliny, the 1st-century Roman author - had suggested must exist in order to balance the known land masses of Europe, Asia and Africa.
The History of Cartography by Harley and Woodward
AN ITALIAN CHART IN THE CATALAN STYLE. Made in 1482 by Grazioso Benincasa, (...) The repeated coats of arms beneath a cardinal's hat are those of Raffaello Riario, for whom the chart was made. n Size of the original: 71 x 127.5 cm
COSMOGRAPHICAL MAP: THE LAND OF EGYPT WITH THE GODDESS NUT. South is at the top inthis cosmographic representation found on the cover of a stone sarcophagus from Saqqara. It dates from the Thirtieth Dynasty, ca. 350 B.C. Diameter of the interior circle: 72 cm. The god of the air, Shu, can be seen below the stars, above the circular earth.
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES FROM HOMER'S ILIAD.
After Malcolm M. Willcock, A Companion to the lliad (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976)
A visualization of the shield of Achilles, described in Homer's Iliad. It is thought to represent a type of cosmographical chart,
bringing together elements of the natural and human world, although not in a spatial relationship.
Drawn by the Majorcan Gabriel de Valseca in 1447, this style is midway between the two extremes of Catalan flamboyance and Italian austerity. Flags, town vignettes, and wind disks are typically Catalan, the lack of inland detail typically Italian. Size of the original: 59 x 94 cm.
COMPOSITE PETROGLYPH MAP FROM BEDOLINA, VALCAMONICA. (North Italy) The earlier figures and later additions have been removed to reveal a complex topographical map.
Saturday, March 4, 2017
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