Meerwunder und Seltzame Thier/Wie Die In Den Mitnacßtigen Landern Gefunden Werden

The most famous sea monster chart of the 16th century.

This is an imaginative table depicting monsters, both aquatic and terrestrial. Produced by Sebastian Munster based on Olaus Magnus's 1539 Carta marina et descriptio septemtrionalium terrarium ac mirabilium, the work reflects medieval beliefs and the fear that the sea instilled in Renaissance sailors.

The relationship between maps and sea monsters dates back to the classical period and reflects humanity's concern and interest in the sea and what it contains. Medieval maps, mainly the mappa mundi and portolan charts, also contain monsters in their waters. With the shift from manuscript maps to woodcut and copperplate engraving, the motivations for including monsters in maps also changed: cartographers included monsters as a way to attract customers. As Chet van Duzer explains, monsters went from predetermined features to expected elements of a map. During the 16th century, monsters began to be depicted three-dimensionally, thanks to shading, with implied movement and dynamism. For zoological images, cartographers also drew on classical sources rather than medieval antecedents.

The most influential work containing sea monsters, both for Münster in particular and for cartography in general, is the Carta marina et descriptio septemtrionalium terrarium ac mirabilium by Olaus Magnus (Venice, 1539). For example, he directly influenced the work of Gerard Mercator, as seen in his 1541 world map. Münster was also influenced by Magnus's images and his descriptions of monsters, described in Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (1552). Both Magnus and Münster, in turn, influenced Abraham Ortelius, as seen in his famous map of Iceland first included in the 1590 edition of his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Plate taken from the Cosmographiae Universalis, Germa edition.

The Cosmographiae Universalis of Sebastian Münster (1488-1552), printed for the first time in Basel in 1544 by the publisher Heinrich Petri, was updated several times and increased with new maps and urban representations in its many editions until the beginning of the next century. Münster had worked to collect information in order to obtain a work that did not disappoint expectations and, after a further publication in German embellished with 910 woodblock prints, arrived in 1550 to the final edition in Latin, illustrated by 970 woodcuts.

There were then numerous editions in different languages, including Latin, French, Italian, English and Czech. After his death in Münster (1552), Heinrich Petri first, and then his son Sebastian, continued the publication of the work. The Cosmographia universalis was one of the most popular and successful books of the 16th century, and saw as many as 24 editions in 100 years: the last German edition was published in 1628, long after the author's death. The Cosmographia contained not only the latest maps and views of all the most famous cities, but also a series of encyclopedic details related to the known, and unknown, world.

The particular commercial success of this work was due in part to the beautiful engravings (among whose authors can be mentioned Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, David Kandel).

Woodcut, finely hand-colored, restorations made in lower right corner and to some tears (visible from verso photo), otherwise in good condition.

Bibliografia

Chet van Duzer, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps; Reynir Gretarsson, Maps of Iceland: Antique Maps of Iceland 1482-1850.