Petrini World Map 1700

by Weston Westmoreland

Title

Petrini World Map 1700

Artist

Weston Westmoreland

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Map of the world by Paolo Petrini, 1700.

This double-hemisphere world map by Neapolitan mapmaker Paolo Petrini represents the high point of geographic printing in Naples at the end of the 17th Century.

The hemispheres are surrounded by finely engraved allegorical images. This map is an original composition, although his cartographic sources can be traced to important French and Italian sources. Eastern North America is reasonably well-defined, with all five of the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, alifornia is shown to be a large island, while in the Pacific Northwest, the coast curves inwards to include the mythical Strait of Anian. South America takes on an exaggerated, widened form, although the Andes and major rivers are depicted with a broad degree of accuracy.

Much of the rest of the world and the nomenclature, were taken from the 1694 wall map of the world by the French Geographer Royale, Nicolas de Fer. Europe is naturally well-defined and Africa assumes a conventional depiction for the period, with well-conceived coastlines, but a largely conjectural interior. Much of Asia is also well-charted, based largely on Dutch (for Southeast Asia) and Jesuit sources (for areas such as China), although the coastlines north of Korea (which is correctly shown here to be a peninsula) curve northward into oblivion.

Regarding Australia, which is said here to have been "discovered in 1644" although the continent had actually been first encountered in 1606, Petrini delineates much of the coastlines of western and northern Australia and the southern tip of Tasmania. The east coast of Australia remains a complete enigma.

The images surrounding the map include Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury, after Cassini, along with zodiacal signs and figures form classical mythology. Below are finely conceived allegorical depictions of trade, industry, science and art. The cartouche in the lower-center features a dedication to one of Petrini's key patrons, Cesare d'Avalos, who reigned as the Marchese of Pescara from 1697 to 1729.

The biography of Paolo Petrini remains something of mystery. Based in Naples, then one of Europe's largest cities, he published the very rare atlas, the Atlante Partenopeo (1700-1718). However, his greatest works included the present world map and a set of wall maps of the four continents, which in modern times have proven virtually unobtainable to collectors.

Petrini's wall map of the World hand painted originals are extremely rare. Very few copies were ever issued, and the survival rate of large wall maps of that period is very low.


More amazing ancient maps and city plans one copy-paste away at https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/ancient+cartography

Weston Westmoreland

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May 2nd, 2021

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