Sardegna

Rare map of Sardinia engraved by Fabio Licinio and drawn by Giacomo Gastaldi.

In the center of the island, in large letters, is the title: SARDINIA. In the cartouche at the upper left is engraved a brief geographical description of the island: Sardinia insula inter Africu[m] et Tyrrhenum pelagus sita magnitudine 562 mill. pas: fertilis admodum animaliumque varij generis abundans metallis argentarijs stagnis fontibus salubris prestantissima. In the lower frame of the cartouche we find the signature of the engraver Fabius Licinius. Orientation in the four sides in the center, with the name of the winds: TRAMONTANA, MEZO DI, LEVANTE, PONENTE, north is at the top. Map lacks graphic scale and graduation in the margins.

“La carta della Sardegna firmata da Fabio Licinio è un prodotto di derivazione gastaldina. Viene attribuita dalle bibliografie allo stesso Gastaldi, in quanto il Licinio era solito lavorare per il cartografo piemontese. Nelle raccolte cinquecentesche la carta si trova spesso stampata in coppia con l’analoga mappa della Corsica firmata dal Licinio (catalogo n. 389). Secondo Almagià questa carta è verosimilmente il prototipo di questa tipologia di mappe sulla Sardegna. Sotto l’isola denominata Tolata (presumibilmente Tavolara) viene disegnata un’altra isola, priva di nesonimo. Non sono note ristampe” (cfr. S. Bifolco – F. Ronca, Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI secolo (2018), p. 2106.

Fabio Licinio (1521 - 1565), son of the painter Arrigo, came from a family of artists. As an engraver, in 1544 he engraved the Annunciation from the Pordenone altarpiece in S. Maria degli Angeli in Murano, based on a design made by his brother Giulio, then 17 years old, as can be seen from the inscription on the print "Hanc Pordenon(is) J(iulius) Lycinius excud(it) Fabio Ve. fe(cit)." He worked for the court in Vienna; in fact, 45 Rhine florins are paid to him for sending a "folder" to Maximilian II. He sold his works, engravings, reproduction prints, portraits and maps in his Libreria del segno di S. Marco in Venice. Licinius was one of the most skilled map engravers of the 16th century. His artistic and commercial collaboration with cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi was long and prolific; in all, Licinio engraved more than twenty maps, not all of them drawn by Gastaldi. He died on November 18, 1565, and the death register lists him as "stampador" while his uncle Giovan Battista Licinio's will refers to him as "orese" (goldsmith).

Etching and engraving, impressed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed within the copper line with reconstructive restoration of about one cm on each side, otherwise in excellent condition.

Bibliografia

S. Bifolco – F. Ronca, Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI secolo (2018): p. 2106, tav. 1066; Almagià (1927): n. 102; Borroni Salvadori (1980): n. 61; Castellani (1876): n. 49; Grammatico (1996): n. 36; Almagià (1929): p. 22 D, tav. XXVI; Bifolco-Ronca (2014): n. 146; Cartografia Rara (1986): n. 121; Lago (1994): p. 288, fig. 51; Lago (2002); p. 491, fig. 489; Perini (1996): p. 125; Piloni (1974): pp. 58-59, tav. XXV; Tooley (1939): n. 509.