IL vero disegno dell’Jsola di Corfù…

Inscibed in the upper right cartouche: IL vero disegno dell’Jsola di Corfù, nella quale per la sacra Lega è eretto l’Hospedale per ricever tutti i soldati christiani ammalati ò feriti nella presente santa impresa contra infideli, nel qualo è provisto de Medici fisici, e cirugici, et altri ministri per curarli et trattarli con ogni sorte di sovvertione et di charità.
Orientation is indicated by the names of the winds - Tramontana, Greco, Levante, Sirocco, Ostro, Libeccio, Ponente, Maestro - with the northwest positioned at the bottom. The map lacks a graphic scale and marginal graduations.

It is derived from the map by the Monogrammist PS, printed in Rome in 1537, differing from the original in its orientation, which has been rotated by 90 degrees.

A very rare second state of the plate, with the imprint of Giovanni Orlandi and the date 1602. According Bifolco-Ronca (cfr. Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo, p. 1518) the only other copy of Orlandi’s edition known in the public collection is at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Anonymous map, without date and editorial indications in its first edition. The map is a faithful replica of the Venetian map by Forlani-Bertelli (1564) and is attributed by Zacharakis to Claudio Duchetti, for the presence in the six-volumes collection of the National Library of Malta, in a group of maps bearing his signature. If the place of printing is certain, as shown by the successive editions of Orlandi and van Schoel, the attribution of the plate to Antonio Lafreri seems more pertinent to us. It can be identified with the work described as "Isola di Corfu" (No. 57) in the Lafreri's catalog. The plate was inherited by Claudio Duchetti and then by Giacomo Gherardi. We can identify this work with "Isola di Corfu"(# 144) inserted in the catalog of the widow of Giacomo Gherardi, Quintilia Lucidi, of 17-19 October 1598. It was then purchased by Giovanni Orlandi (act of 25 June 1602) and then by H van Schoel (1614).

Etching with engraving, printed on contemporary laid paper with "Crown with five points in circle over AF" watermark (Woodward 278-279), with original margins, very good condition.

Bibliografia
S. Bifolco - F. Ronca, Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo, p. 1518, tav. 730, II/III; Alberti (2010): n. 56; Alberti (2009): p. 123, n. A.53; Pagani (2012): p. 84; Tolias (2011): n. 0699 & p. 94, tav. II.26; Tooley (1939): n. 163; Zacharakis (1992): n. 2149; Zacharakis (2009): nn. 1422-1423; Zacharakis (2016): n. 2483a.