Vesconte Maggiolo - The Nautical Atlas of 1512

Vesconte Maggiolo – The Nautical Atlas of 1512

Maggiolo’s famous Nautical Atlas of 1512 consists of four masterful pieces of cartography that are also fine specimens of Italian Renaissance art. They are painted with a beautiful palette of primary colors that are illuminated with gold. First is a detailed map of Africa and its northern, western, and southern coasts as well as the neighboring regions of the Mediterranean and Europe. The second map shows the Black Sea and Asia Minor as well as Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean while the third map shows the Central and Western Mediterranean, the Peloponnese, and Crete. Finally, the fourth map shows the North Sea and Atlantic coasts of Western Europe, the British Isles, and North Africa.

The Life of a Master Cartographer

Vesconte Maggiolo (1478 – after 1549) was born into the Republic of Genoa, one of the great maritime powers of medieval Italy and an important center of banking during his lifetime. Not only was he born into a family of mapmakers, but one that was granted a monopoly by the Republic for over 150 years to ensure the consistent quality of these important navigational tools. As such, he was destined to be one of the greatest cartographers of the 16th century. He moved to Naples in 1511, presumably to expand the family business to the city, which was enjoying an economic and cultural revival under the rule of the Crown of Aragon.
While in Naples, he produced inter alia two atlases, three nautical charts, and a nautical planisphere before he was recalled to Genoa by Doge Ottaviano Fregoso in 1518. Maggiolo was made Magister cartarum pro navigando a position that came with a salary of 100 lire per year. In 1521, the Genoese Senate confirmed his office and salary for life and in 1529 he was granted the right to pass it onto his son. Maggiolo’s last known work was published in 1549, a year after he became the first person to use the term Rio de Amaxones to refer to the mightiest river in South America on a map.