Parte Alpestre Dello Stato Di Milano.
40.5 x 55.1 cm (platemark 35.7 x 49.1 cm). Fine original color, refreshed; printers crease reinforced; else excellent condition. An elegant engraved map of the alpine State of Milan and its strategic trade corridors, originally issued in Giovanni Antonio Magini’s landmark Italia (Bologna, 1620). Centered on lakes Maggiore, Lugano, and Como, the map provides a highly detailed survey of the intricate hydrography and mountain passes connecting Lombardy with the Swiss valleys. Magini meticulously tracks the courses of the Ticino, Adda, and Oglio rivers amidst dense toponymy and dramatic hill shading that emphasizes the rugged terrain. Ornamented with sophisticated strapwork cartouches and a calibrated scale bar, this map beautifully unites early modern scientific geography with courtly Renaissance design. Magini’s Italia atlas was a monumental project that synthesized the great, scattered Italian cartography of the sixteenth century—including masterpieces of the "Lafreri" school—into a single, unified format. The atlas occupied the better part of Magini’s later life; following his death in 1617, the work was faithfully completed and published by his son, Fabio. Magini was a highly innovative figure in Italian map design, becoming the first in the region to systematically adopt the grand Dutch aesthetic. By integrating the elaborate, baroque cartouches and strapwork ornamentation popularized by northern masters like Mercator, Hondius, and Ortelius, Magini introduced a uniformly rich, dramatic visual style entirely unprecedented in printed Italian cartography. The map also features the hand of the celebrated English engraver Benjamin Wright, a peripatetic artisan who lived in Mantua and Bologna.
Price: $650.00