Universale Descrittione di Tutto il Mondo del Ecc.te Gioseppe Rosaccio

Rare separately published map of the World by Luigi Rosaccio, after the of the largest World Map of his father Giuseppe Rosaccio (1597, Bifolco-Ronca n. 31).

Rodney Shirley notes:

“This curiously elaborate world map is to be found in a speculative world geography by Giuseppe Rosaccio... The right-hand hemisphere is surrounded by bands denoting the climates; the left-hand one by lively windheads and celestial constellations. In the centre cusp is a dyspeptic portrait of the young Duke Cosimo II de Medici, and in the spandels are circular representations of the four elements. The lower part of the engraving consists of a neatly engraved Ptolemaic map of the world and a set of spherical diagrams showing the zones, meridians, and geographical features”

The map was engraved by Giuseppe’s relative Alovisio Rosaccio and is very scarce. This is an example of the second state, with a beard added to the portrait of de Medici.

Without the data, the map is printed in Florence, where the Rosaccio family was transferred after the Venetian period, on 28 November 1606, obtaining the privilege of printing for their works - see Casali, Il 'Teatro "del mondo. GR (ca 1530-1620) tra Firenze e Bologna, in L’Europa divisa e i nuovi mondi. Per Adriano Prosperi, II, a cura di M. Donattini - G. Marcocci - S. Pastore, Pisa 2011, p. 56.

Aloisio, Aluigio, Alovigi or probably Luigi Rosaccio, son of the cosmographer Giuseppe Rosaccio, was trained in Florence, perhaps with Antonio Tempesta, at the Medici court. Since the early nineties, Giuseppe Rosaccio settled in Florence, where on 13 July 1594  joined the company  of “Arte dei medici e speziali (Art of doctors and apothecaries)” (Casali, 2011, p. 56 and n. 15 p. 62) as a seller of books, placing himself at the service and under the protection of the Grand Duke from his 'bench' opened on the prestigious Piazza del Palazzo and dedicating some of his most significant works to Ferdinando, Cosimo II and the Grand Duchess Cristina.. Still in the city of the Medici, on 28 November 1606 he obtained the privilege of printing for his own works (Casali, 2011, pp. 56 s.). Luigi Rosaccio tried his hand at engraving art, translating his father's numerous works into a print. In 1610 he made the cycle of illustrations included in the description of the “Esequie d’Arrigo Quarto cristianissimo re di francia e di Navarra celebrate in Firenze dal Serenissimo DON COSIMO II Gran Duca di Toscana”. Described by Giuliano Giraldi published in Florence by Bartolomeo Sermartelli, important as visual testimony of the complex of the decorations rather than for the stylistic and technical qualities, not particularly brilliant. Always in the Florentine period are related to the three wonderful geographic maps depicting Italy, a great map preceding the Italia Nova of Giovanni Antonio Magini, Tuscany (the so-called “Carta del Cavallo”), and Piedmont.

Bibliografia

Shirley, The Mapping of The World, #268.