Marsilia

A top center the title: MARSILIA. Lettered in lower margin: Massilia, overo Massalia, o Marsilia citta antica tra le Francesi nella provincia di Vienna, edificata da Greci: illustre per la civilta, chiarissima per lo studio delle lettre, potente merce del Mare, e delle richezze in essa abbondevoli; di modo che per gli esercitij di Minerva succede ad Atene, per la pote[n]za a Rodiani, perle ricchezze a Lacedemeni. Di cui fa mensione Cesare nel principio del secondo libro delle guerre civili, e Lucano nel terzo della guerra civile racconta lo suo assedio postole da Romani. It follows, disposed on three columns, an alphabetical key of 16 references (A-Q) to places and notable monuments. In the right corner there is the editorial imprint: Matheo Florimi for. Other place names are provided on the map, that is without orientation and graphic scale.

Etching and engraving, printed on contemporary laid paper, with margins, in perfect conditions.

Perspective plan of the city, undated, signed by Matteo Florimi. As usual for the Calabrian publisher, active in Siena, this is a close copy of the anonymous plan of Marseilles described in Bifolco - Ronca at n. 425: “non elencata nel catalogo del Lafreri e nemmeno nei successivi documenti di vendita tra Stefano Duchetti e Paolo Graziani. Potrebbe essere opera della tipografia di Claudio Duchetti o, in alternativa, di Mario Cartaro” [not listed in Lafreri's catalog, nor in subsequent sales documents between Stefano Duchetti and Paolo Graziani. It may have been produced by the printing house of Claudio Duchetti or, alternatively, of Mario Cartaro]. Both the bottom text and the alphabetical legend of the Florimi are copied from the model.

Matteo Florimi (Polistena c. 1540 - Siena 1613) was a publisher and merchant of books and prints. Of Calabrian origin, he settled in Siena in 1581, with a store “in Banchi”. Matteo Florimi's chalcographic activity was several times joined by master engravers such as Cornelis Galle, Arnoldo Arnoldi, Pieter de Iode, Jan Sadeler and artists such as Francesco Vanni, Ventura Salimbeni and Alessandro Casolani, with whom the printer collaborated in the preparation of religious subjects. Florimi's cartographic activity produced prints of many cities and territories around the world, which were never drawn for him, but were manipulations of already existing reliefs, or of maps published by other printers. In the second half of the sixteenth century, Florimi was far-sighted in devoting himself to the production of bird's-eye views of cities as faithfully as possible.  Florimi copied some maps by Antonio Lafreri, Claude Duchet, Abraham Ortelius. As far as map engraving work was concerned, in 1600, Matteo Florimi called the Flemish engraver Arnoldo degli Arnoldi to work in his workshop with the promise of greater compensation than that bestowed upon him by Giovanni Antonio Magini, with whom the artist was working. This offer by Florimi triggered the wrath of Magini, who, though not naming him, called him an "envious counterfeiter" for stealing such a skilled cartographer from him. The collaboration between Florimi and Arnoldi lasted only two years (1600-1602), but it was quite productive: together they printed the Stato di Siena, la Choronografia Tusciae, la Nuova descrittione della Lombardia, l’Europa, l’America and the Descrittione Universale della Terra.

Bibliografia

Bifolco-Ronca, Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo (2018), tav. 426; Elisa Boffa, Un tipografo calabrese a Siena: Matteo Florimi, in “Accademia dei Rozzi” (2013): II, n. 12; H.A.M. van der Heijden, Matteo Florimi (+1613) – Landkarten und Stadtplanverleger in Siena, in “Florilegium Cartographicum”, Lipsia (1993): n. 28; Shirley (2004): III, n. 37.