Venetia

Reference: S41900
Author Paolo FORLANI
Year: 1567
Zone: Venice
Measures: 265 x 192 mm
€1,800.00

Reference: S41900
Author Paolo FORLANI
Year: 1567
Zone: Venice
Measures: 265 x 192 mm
€1,800.00

Description

Very rare first edition, without text on the verso by Giulio Ballino, from Il primo libro delle città et fortezze del mondo.

In the upper center, under the top edge, the title: VENETIA.

Along the lower margin is an alphanumeric legend of 111 references (1-105 and A-F), in eight columns. At lower right, the imprint : In Venetia L'Anno MDLXVII jn mezaria all'insegna della Colonna. Orientation in the four sides to the center with the name of the winds: TRAMONTANA, OSTRO, LEVANTE, PONENTE, the north is at the top.

 

Perspective plan of the city with the imprint Libreria alla Colonna that identifies Paolo Forlani as the publisher. The table is included in all five known copies of the collection Il primo libro delle città et fortezze del mondo, the first compendium of urban cartography ever made, which contains plates by Forlani and Domenico Zenoi.

 

According to Schulz, it is a derivation of the plan of Guillaume Guerolt, included in the Premier livre des figures and pourtraitz des villes plus illustres et renommees d'Europe, published in Lyon by Balthazar Arnoullet in 1552. However, it can be considered a reduction of the Venetian model introduced by Jacopo de' Barbari (1500). The map is reprinted, unmodified, by Bolognino Zaltieri in two different editions of the work De' disegni delle più illustri citta, et fortezze del mondo by Giulio Ballino, both published in Venice in 1569. For this reason, often in the literatures it has referred as "Ballino's plan". Schulz argues that the table was included in the Civitatum aliquot insigniorum et locorum, magis munitorum exacta delineatio: cum additione aliquot insularum principalium published by Ferrando Bertelli in Venice in 1568, however, none of the copies we examined contain this plant of Forlani. Only one state is konwn, but the Zaltieri printings  have a descriptive text on the verso (cfr. Bifolco-Ronca p. 2472).

Paolo Forlani, a native of Verona, opened his own chalcographic workshop in Venice, Al segno del pozzo, in 1560, as reflected in some of his works. From 1566 he was active in Merzaria al segno della colonna and from 1569 in Merzaria al segno della nave. Forlani had business relationships with the major publishers of cartographic material of the time, among them Antonio Lafreri, the Bertelli family, and others. In addition to being a talented engraver, he was also quick to execute, a quality that enabled him to work for different publishers at the same time, and to execute a large amount of work. Woodward attributes about one hundred works to Forlani, most of which, however, are unsigned. Between 1560 and 1567, Forlani collaborated with Ferrando Bertelli, for whom he engraved about ten copperplates, with Camocio, Bolognino Zaltieri, and with Claudio Duchetti, for whom he engraved some maps. For his professional activity, however, the collaboration with Giacomo Gastaldi, for whom he engraved thirteen maps, was very important and valuable. In 1567 Forlani published and traded his work Il primo libro delle città et fortezze principali del mondo, whose branches later passed to Bolognino Zaltieri. It is likely that Forlani died during the plague that spread through Venice from 1575.

Beautiful proof, printed on contemporary laid paper, in very good condition.

Bibliografia

S. Bifolco, F. Ronca, Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI secolo, tav. 1263; S. Bifolco, Città e Fortezze Principali del Mondo. Le prime raccolte italiane di cartografia urbana e gli isolari del XVI secolo, in “Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI secolo”, pp. 137-152; Albert Ganado, The Forlani-Zenoi town books of 1567. A description and analysis, in “Florilegium Cartographicum. Beiträge zur Kartographiegeschichte und Vedutenkunde des 16. Bis 18. Jahrhunderts”, a cura di Peter H. Köhl e Peter H. Meurer, Lipsia, 1993, pp. 21-34; Béla Szalai, (adattamento e traduzione inglese Ivan Matković), The Representation of the Hungarian Towns in Domenico Zenoi’s and Paolo Forlani’s Cartographic Work, in “Kartografija i geoinformacije”, Vol.11 (Budapest, No.18 December 2012), pp. 4-37; Vladimiro Valerio, Piante e vedute di Napoli dal 1486 al 1599. L’origine della iconografia urbana europea, Napoli, 1998; p. 40, n. 32 e p. 47, n. 16; David Woodward, Paolo Forlani: Compiler, Engraver, Printer, or Publisher? in Imago Mundi, Vol. 44 (Londra, 1992), pp. 45-64; Cassini (1971): n. 15; Moretto (2001): n. 23; Romanelli-Biadene (1982): n. 10; Schulz (1970): pp. 45-46, n. 18.

Paolo FORLANI (Attivo a Venezia seconda metà del XVI secolo)

Paolo Forlani, a native of Verona, opened his own chalcographic workshop in Venice, Al segno del pozzo, in 1560, as reflected in some of his works. From 1566 he was active in Merzaria al segno della colonna and from 1569 in Merzaria al segno della nave. Forlani had business relationships with the major publishers of cartographic material of the time, among them Antonio Lafreri, the Bertelli family, and others. In addition to being a talented engraver, he was also quick to execute, a quality that enabled him to work for different publishers at the same time, and to execute a large amount of work. Woodward attributes about one hundred works to Forlani, most of which, however, are unsigned. Between 1560 and 1567, Forlani collaborated with Ferrando Bertelli, for whom he engraved about ten copperplates, with Camocio, Bolognino Zaltieri, and with Claudio Duchetti, for whom he engraved some maps. For his professional activity, however, the collaboration with Giacomo Gastaldi, for whom he engraved thirteen maps, was very important and valuable. In 1567 Forlani published and traded his work Il primo libro delle città et fortezze principali del mondo, whose branches later passed to Bolognino Zaltieri. It is likely that Forlani died during the plague that spread through Venice from 1575.

Paolo FORLANI (Attivo a Venezia seconda metà del XVI secolo)

Paolo Forlani, a native of Verona, opened his own chalcographic workshop in Venice, Al segno del pozzo, in 1560, as reflected in some of his works. From 1566 he was active in Merzaria al segno della colonna and from 1569 in Merzaria al segno della nave. Forlani had business relationships with the major publishers of cartographic material of the time, among them Antonio Lafreri, the Bertelli family, and others. In addition to being a talented engraver, he was also quick to execute, a quality that enabled him to work for different publishers at the same time, and to execute a large amount of work. Woodward attributes about one hundred works to Forlani, most of which, however, are unsigned. Between 1560 and 1567, Forlani collaborated with Ferrando Bertelli, for whom he engraved about ten copperplates, with Camocio, Bolognino Zaltieri, and with Claudio Duchetti, for whom he engraved some maps. For his professional activity, however, the collaboration with Giacomo Gastaldi, for whom he engraved thirteen maps, was very important and valuable. In 1567 Forlani published and traded his work Il primo libro delle città et fortezze principali del mondo, whose branches later passed to Bolognino Zaltieri. It is likely that Forlani died during the plague that spread through Venice from 1575.