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Description

Detailed map of the Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli.

The map comes from Coronelli's rare Atlante Veneto, one of the most decorative and ornate of all 17th Century Atlases. It exhibits the fine engraving style of that coveted Venetian atlas. It was originally billed as a continuation of Blaeu's Atlas Maior.

Coronelli derived his information from that of Nolin, who had published a similar map in Paris ten years earlier.

The fish surrounding the cartouche are an obvious allusion to the main industry of the region.

Coronelli's mapping includes an elaborate depiction of the Grand Bank with numerous soundings and differentiated stippling to indicate various elevations. It is unusual to see underwater topography render at such high definition.

Coronelli dedicates his work to the Franciscan priest Padri Minori in Bologna. Coronelli was himself a Franciscan monk who eventually rose to become head of the order.

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650-1718) was possibly the best Italian mapmaker of his time. He made globes, including one 5 metres in diameter for Louis XIV. While his most important work was completed in the last quarter of the 18th century, or shortly thereafter, he cast a long shadow for decades to come.

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli Biography

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650-1718) was one of the most influential Italian mapmakers and was known especially for his globes and atlases. The son of a tailor, Vincenzo was apprenticed to a xylographer (a wood block engraver) at a young age. At fifteen he became a novice in a Franciscan monastery. At sixteen he published his first book, the first of 140 publications he would write in his lifetime. The order recognized his intellectual ability and saw him educated in Venice and Rome. He earned a doctorate in theology, but also studied astronomy. By the late 1670s, he was working on geography and was commissioned to create a set of globes for the Duke of Parma. These globes were five feet in diameter. The Parma globes led to Coronelli being named theologian to the Duke and receiving a bigger commission, this one from Louis XIV of France. Coronelli moved to Paris for two years to construct the King’s huge globes, which are 12.5 feet in diameter and weigh 2 tons.

The globes for the French King led to a craze for Coronelli’s work and he traveled Europe making globes for the ultra-elite. By 1705, he had returned to Venice. There, he founded the first geographical society, the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti and was named Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice. He died in 1718.