Abraham ORTELIUS
Cypri Insulae Nova Descript., 1573
Engraved map of Cyprus on paper, with Latin descriptive text on the verso headed Cyprus; the recto is richly decorated with an elaborate title cartouche dated 1573, sailing ships, sea monster, scale cartouche, and an inset map of Lemnos.
35.5 x 50 cm
44 x 58.5 cm (with passepartout)
Provenance
private collection, Cyprus
Literature
Christos G. Zacharakis, A Catalogue of Printed Maps of Greece, 1477-1800, Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation, 1982, page 87 (illustrated)
Exhibited
Estimate
€ 900 - 1 700
Notes
An important sixteenth-century map of Cyprus by Abraham Ortelius, from the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, widely regarded as the first modern atlas. The island is richly detailed with towns, villages, mountains and coastal names, and is enhanced by an elaborate title cartouche, sailing ships, sea monster, scale cartouche and a smaller map of Lemnos. A highly decorative and desirable Renaissance map of Cyprus.
Abraham ORTELIUS was born in Antwerp on 14 April 1527 and died in Antwerp in 1598.
He was a Flemish cartographer, geographer, cosmographer, map dealer and publisher, and one of the most important figures in the history of European cartography. Active in Antwerp, one of the major commercial and intellectual centres of sixteenth-century Europe, Ortelius built a wide network of scholars, travellers, printers and mapmakers, which allowed him to gather and organise geographical knowledge from across the known world.
Ortelius is best known for the publication of *Theatrum Orbis Terrarum*, first issued in Antwerp in 1570. This work is widely regarded as the first modern atlas, bringing together maps of uniform format in a single organised volume. Its clear structure, scholarly ambition and high-quality engraving made it a landmark in the history of map publishing and one of the most influential geographical works of the Renaissance.
His maps are valued for their decorative beauty, historical importance and role in the spread of geographical knowledge. They often combine scientific information with elaborate cartouches, ships, sea monsters, figures and ornamental details, reflecting both Renaissance scholarship and the visual richness of early modern print culture.
Ortelius was also interested in ancient geography and the relationship between classical sources and contemporary knowledge of the world. His work helped shape the Netherlandish school of cartography and contributed to the Golden Age of mapmaking in the Low Countries. He is also remembered for observing similarities between the shapes of continents, an early idea later associated with the theory of continental drift.
Abraham Ortelius remains recognised as one of the great cartographers of the Renaissance, admired for transforming mapmaking into a systematic, scholarly and visually compelling form of knowledge.