![]() ![]() Perhaps most importantly, two of the four known copies of Koler's modified atlas (including this example and the one at the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek), were given to the Nuremberg-based Illuminist (illuminator-colorist) Georg Mack the Elder to be elaborately hand-colored and heightened in gold and silver - well beyond the level encountered in any other Ortelius atlas. Thus he created the only Ortelius edition in which the reader could consult the descriptive text while also looking at the maps themselves. Sometime around 1572, the atlas was disbound by the Nuremberg publisher Johann Koler, who had the Latin text translated into German, and the whole atlas reconfigured in oblong folio, so that the text page sat to the left of the map it described. This can be confirmed by reading the backlit text on the versos of the maps. The initial configuration of the atlas was as a black and white "1570A" Theatrum, one of the storied rarities of cartographic collecting. It stands as a triumph of 16th-century artistry and bibliophily, having been modified several times after its initial publication in 1570, with each iteration bringing a new element of craftsmanship to the object. This previously unknown example of one of the foundational books of the Western Canon is entirely hand-colored and illuminated in gold and silver by the most celebrated colorist of the 16th century, Georg Mack, or a member of his workshop. This is the finest example in private hands of Abraham Ortelius's 1570A Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first edition, first issue, of the first modern atlas. The Finest Example in Private Hands of "the First Large Modern Atlas" (PMM)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |