Al Molto Mag.o et Ecc. Alessandro Serego. Che lo studio della Geografia…di intagliare una Spagna…. La piu justa…

In the lower left cartouche the dedication to Alessandro Serego: Al Molto Mag:co et Ecc.te Sig.or Alessandro Serego, Sig.or mio sempre osservandissimo. Che lo studio della Geografia sia utile et necessario alla medicina, oltre le molte et molte ragioni, che si potrebbero allegare, il testimonio della v[ost]ra Ecc.tia voglio p[er] hora che sia quello, che appo tutti ne facci intiera fede: p[er]cioche ella quelle hore, che puo sotrarre dalle infinite honorate occupationi sue, tutte le spende nello studio non solame[n]te della Geografia ma ancora della Cosmografia. la onde io havendo veduto con effetto questo amore ch’ella a talle scienza porta, et essendomi occorso di intagliare una Spagna venutami nelle mani p[er] la piu giusta, copiosa, et bella, di qua[n]te fin qui ne sono uscite fuori, me ha parso fare il mio debito farla uscir fuori sotto l’honorato nome della V. Ecc.tia et a questo modo io verro ad haver dato all’opera amorevole patrone, priego adunq[ue] la V. Ecc.tia che sidegni di accettarla, no[n] gia mosso dalla gra[n]dezza del dono, ma dalla amore ch’ella alla scienza porta, co[n]te[n]ta[n]dosi ch’io le sia servitore. D. V. Ecc.tia servitore Paulo di Forlani Veronese. Along the left margin is depicted the Scala leugarum hispanicarum (70 leagues, equal to mm 162). In the lower right cartouche is engraved a brief description of the map: A’ Benigni Lettori. Eccovi Lettori la Spagna una delle principali parti dell’Europa, la quale quanto al disegno e delle migliori et piu giuste di quante fin qui ne sono venute nelle vostre mani, divisa per i suoi regni, secondo, che hoggi si ritrova, et intagliata con quella maggior diligenza, che far si possa: Voi adunque, ad utilita de’ qualli, e volto tutto il mio intento, l’accettarete volontieri como havete fatto sempre le fatiche utili et honorate: aspettando appresso una Europa, che ora si sta intagliando, iustissima, bellissima, et copiosissima la quale pure a commune utilita sara data da noi fuori: stati sani. Paulo di Forlani Veronese. Outside the cartouche the imprint Ferando Berteli Exc. Orientation in the four sides in the center with the names of the winds: TRAMONTANA, MEDJODJA, LEVANTE, PONIENTE north and top. Graduation in the margins of 10' in 10', 36° to 46°15' latitude and 3° 20' to 20° 15' (2° to 21° 35' up) longitude.

Example of the first state (of three) according to Bifolco/Ronca, with the address of Ferrando Bertelli.

Although based on the work of Vicko Paletin [Paletino], printed in Venice in 1551, Paolo Forlani's map of the region, also published in Venice by Ferrando Bertelli, faithfully reproduces, even in transcription errors, another derivation of Paletin, printed in Rome by Vincenzo Luchini (1559). The work is devoid of time indications; dedicated to Alessandro Serego, it is dated by Woodward to about 1567, the year of Bertelli's death. A later issue, also undated, is signed by Donato Bertelli.

The Dominican Vicko Paletin (Korcula 1508-1571, en. Vincenzo Paletin from Korcula, also known as Vincentius Corsulensis) spent about ten years traveling in the New World, as stated by him in the preface to the translation of Pietro Medina's L'Arte de Navigare. Toward the end of the fourth decade of the 16th century, he returned to Spain, and it was here that he gathered information for the compilation of his map. In the extensive legend below, he states that he is aware of only two printed works of the region, one from 1544, identifiable as that of Gastaldi, and one undated but older (probably the map of Vavassore). It is known that Paletino during the Council of Trent (1550) presented a manuscript map of the Iberian Peninsula to four cardinals: Pietro Vaglier of Alghero, Giovanni de Salazar of Lanciano, Pietro Agostino of Huesca, and Francis of Navarre of Badajoz. The cardinals compared the map with previous ones and on October 6 of the same year approved it, calling it ‘perfetta in ogni linea’ [almost perfect]. On the strength of this approval, Paletino went to Venice to the Council of Ten, which granted him a ten-year printing privilege. The map was published in 1551 with a dedication to Cardinal Francis of Navarre. The map had great influence and was immediately taken up and copied; the first derivation is the Nova descriptio Hispania (1553) published in Antwerp by Hieronimus Cook, followed by a map with the same title published in London by Thomas Geminus (1555). The only known copy of the map is the one preserved in the Doria Atlas, then Wardington collection, recently sold by Sotheby's in London in 2005.

Paolo Forlani, a native of Verona, opened his own chalcographic workshop in Venice, Al segno del pozzo, in 1560, as reflected in some of his works. From 1566 he was active in Merzaria al segno della colonna and from 1569 in Merzaria al segno della nave. Forlani had business relationships with the major publishers of cartographic material of the time, among them Antonio Lafreri, the Bertelli family, and others. In addition to being a talented engraver, he was also quick to execute, a quality that enabled him to work for different publishers at the same time, and to execute a large amount of work. Woodward attributes about one hundred works to Forlani, most of which, however, are unsigned. Between 1560 and 1567, Forlani collaborated with Ferrando Bertelli, for whom he engraved about ten copperplates, with Camocio, Bolognino Zaltieri, and with Claudio Duchetti, for whom he engraved some maps. For his professional activity, however, the collaboration with Giacomo Gastaldi, for whom he engraved thirteen maps, was very important and valuable. In 1567 Forlani published and traded his work Il primo libro delle città et fortezze principali del mondo, whose branches later passed to Bolognino Zaltieri. It is likely that Forlani died during the plague that spread through Venice from 1575.

Ferdinando or Ferrando Bertelli was born in Boarno di Salò, present-day Vobarno, around 1520. Engraver, publisher, chalcographer and print merchant active in Venice under all’insegna di S. Marco in Merzaria. Little is known of his life; he certainly collaborated with Giovanni Francesco Camocio and Paolo Forlani in publishing and selling engravings, maps and city plans. He was probably the older member of a family of engravers whose kinship ties are unknown; many of his maps were reprinted with the signatures of Donato, Andrea, Niccolò and Pietro Bertelli. His most important work is the collection with a bilingual frontispiece, Italian and Latin, Civitatum aliquot insigniorum et locorum, magis munitorum exacta delineatio: cum additione aliquot insularum principalium. Disegni di alcune più illustri città, et fortezze del mondo, con aggionta di alcune Isole principali, con imprint Ferrando Bertelli formis M.D.LXVIII (1568).

Etching with engraving, printed from two copperplates on two (not joined) sheets of contemporary laid paper without watermark, with full margins, faint abrasions visible on verso, otherwise in excellent condition.

Bibliografia

Bifolco-Ronca, Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI secolo, p. 1124, Tav. 468 I/III; Almagià, Monumenta Cartografica Vaticana, 1948, p. 49; Cartografía de España (1994): n. 7; Hernando Rica (1995): pp. 123; Tooley (1939): n. 531; Woodward (1990): n. 68.