SANSON, NICOLAS: ISTRIA, DALMATIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF DUBROVNIK

Inventory number 413

Original title: Partie oriental de l'Italie qui comprend les Royaumes de Naples et de Sicile &c.

Publishing year: 1737

Place of publishing and publisher: Jean Covens i Corneille Mortier, Amsterdam

Format: 46 x57 cm

Technique: Coloured copper engraving

The map depicts the entire Adriatic coast from Istria to Albania and hinterland all the way to the Sava River. All this area, except a very small part, is called Dalmatia. Relief is almost unrepresented, and river flows are displayed incorrectly (e.g. Kupa River). Map is obviously a part of a larger entity which is also seen by its name and which at the time of publishing became standard practice when geographic or political entities in the atlas already appeared on several sheets. Publishers Covens and Mortier succeeded Pierre Mortier in 1711 and published numerous atlases using maps by de L'Isle, Sanson and Jaillot. In this case, they attribute authorship to the most famous French cartographer Nicolas Sanson, who was not alive anymore (he died in 1667), in order to use his authority. The map is adorned with a large baroque cartouche, the size of which indicates the map is a part of a larger whole.

SANSON, NICOLAS

NICOLAS SANSON (1600-1667), one of the most important French cartographers of the early Modern World. He was the first one whom was given the title of a royal cartographer, and he is considered the father of French Cartography. He is also one of the first French cartographers who issued map images of the Croatian lands. The first Sanson's atlas appeared in 1654. The second one and the most famous of Sanson's atlases "Cartes generales de toutes les parties du monde" appeared in 1658. The second edition of this atlas was published as early as in 1664.