Bayern – Bavaria / München – Bavariae (..).; A. Ortelius – J. Aventinus – 1570-1573

Description

A rare example of Ortelius’ first map of Bavaria to appear in a modern atlas. Very decorative map in typical Renaissance style.  This edition is being issued only from 1570 to 1572, with an additional 25 copies printed in 1573. The map shows the course of the Danube between Ingolstadt and the Austrian border, with carthouces, parchment, mountains, sees and many towns.

The map is drawn from an earlier map of Johannes Aventinus, dated 1533. The map is very attractive and shows the course of the Danube between Ingolstadt and the Austrian border, and is centered on Munich (“Munchen”). In the south, Insbruk is visible. The mountains of the Alps are shown, and some of the “sees” of southern Bavaria are named. Many other small towns are shown.

Details

• Type: carthografic print
• Title: Tipus Vindeliciae Sive Utriusque Bavariae Secundum antiquum & recentiorem situm, ab Joanne Auetino olim descriptus, Principibusque eiusdem regionis dedicatus, atque Landshuti editus Anno à Christo nato. 1533.
• Publication: 1570-1573, first and only state
• Technique: cupper engraving with contemporary coloring
• Carthographer: Johannes Aventinus
• Illustrator: Abraham Ortelius
• Engraver: Frans Hogenberg e.a.
• Publiced in: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (..) by C. Diest in Antwerp
• Size print:  33.0 x 43.3 cm
• Size paper: 39.5 x 47.2 cm
• Verso: Latin text / p.29
• ID: M2570E
• Source: Van den Broecke 109 / Koe III Ort 1 [29]

Condition: B

Good, given age. Centrefold as issued with sufficient  margins. Sharp print with beautiful coloring. Margins with some imperfections, one tear into the border of the image, reinforced on the verso.

Gut, dem Alter entsprechend. Mittelfalz wie ausgegeben mit ausreichenden Rändern. Scharfer Druck mit schöner Farbgebung. Ränder mit einigen Fehlstellen, ein Einriss im Bildrand, rückseitig verstärkt..

Backgrounds

Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598)

Abraham Ortelius is perhaps the best known and most frequently collected of all sixteenth-century mapmakers. Ortelius started his career as a map engraver. In 1547 he entered the Antwerp guild of St Luke as afsetter van Karten. In 1560, while traveling with Gerard Mercator he seems to have been attracted towards a career as a scientific geographer. From that point forward, he devoted himself to the compilation his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World), which would become the first modern atlas.

In 1564 he completed his “mappemonde“, an eight-sheet map of the world. The only extant copy of this great map is in the library of the University of Basle. Ortelius also published a map of Egypt in 1565, a plan of Brittenburg Castle on the coast of the Netherlands, and a map of Asia, prior to 1570.

In 1570, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum first appeared in an edition of 53 maps. The Theatrum was the best available summary of 16th-century cartographic knowledge, covering much of the exploration of the world in the century following the discovery of America. Most of the maps in Ortelius Theatrum were drawn from the works of a number of other mapmakers from around the world; a list of 87 authors is given by Ortelius himself.

The broad appeal of the Theatrum saw demand from many consumers who preferred to read the atlas in their local language. Thus, in addition to Latin, the book was published with text in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and English.

By the time of his death in 1598, a total of 25 editions were published including editions in Latin, Italian, German, French, and Dutch. Later editions would also be issued in Spanish and English by Ortelius’ successors, Vrients and Plantin, the former adding a number of maps to the atlas, the final edition of which was issued in 1612. Most of the maps in Ortelius Theatrum were drawn from the works of a number of other mapmakers from around the world; a list of 87 authors is given by Ortelius himself

After Ortelius’s death in 1598, the copper plates for his atlas passed to his heirs. They, in turn, sold the collection to Jan Baptist Vrients (1522-1612) in 1601. Vrients added new maps and published the atlas until his death in 1612. Vrients’s widow then sold the plates to the Moretus brothers, who were the successors of Christoffel Plantin.

In 1573, Ortelius published seventeen supplementary maps under the title of Additamentum Theatri Orbis Terrarum. In 1575 he was appointed geographer to the king of Spain, Philip II, on the recommendation of Arias Montanus, who vouched for his orthodoxy (his family, as early as 1535, had fallen under suspicion of Protestantism). In 1578 he laid the basis of a critical treatment of ancient geography with his Synonymia geographica (issued by the Plantin press at Antwerp and republished as Thesaurus geographicus in 1596). In 1584 he issued his Nomenclator Ptolemaicus, a Parergon (a series of maps illustrating ancient history, sacred and secular.) Late in life, he also aided Welser in his edition of the Peutinger Table in 1598.