A magnificent and highly decorative two-sheet map of the entire Mediterranean Sea by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli.

The two sheets form a continuous geographical representation extending from the Strait of Gibraltar in the west to the eastern Mediterranean, including the coasts of Spain, France, Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Asia Minor, the Levant and North Africa, together with the numerous islands of the Mediterranean.

The map is particularly remarkable for its exceptionally detailed coastal nomenclature, identifying countless ports, bays, capes, islands and settlements. Numerous explanatory notes provide geographical, historical and maritime information.

The western sheet features a splendid Baroque title cartouche suspended from elaborate drapery. At the same time, a large decorative composition in the lower left incorporates an elephant, an eagle, and the winged lion of Saint Mark supporting a descriptive panel.

The eastern sheet features an elegant title cartouche above Greece, a decorative scale below Egypt and numerous coats of arms identifying important territories and cities.

The detailed representation of the eastern Mediterranean is particularly significant in the context of Venice's maritime interests and its prolonged conflicts with the Ottoman Empire during the late seventeenth century.

One of Coronelli's most impressive maps of the Mediterranean, combining remarkable geographical detail with the elaborate decorative engraving characteristic of Venetian Baroque cartography.

Vincenzo Coronelli   (1650-1718)

Vincenzo Coronelli was born in Venice on 16 August 1650 and primarily brought up in Ravenna. He returned to Venice in 1665 and joined the convent of the Minor Conventuals. Five years later, he was sent to Rome to study, and by 1673, he was already a doctor of theology. 

Having achieved fame by constructing two globes for the Duke of Parma, he was invited to Paris for three years in 1681 and made two enormous examples for Louis XIV. On his return to Venice, he assiduously collected cartographic material and founded the Academy of the Argonauts. In 1685, he was appointed Cosmographer to the Republic of Venice and authorised to publish a large atlas. He became a geography lecturer at the University of Venice and brought out an Atlante Veneto the following year.

In 1696, he visited Germany, Holland and southern England. During intervals in compiling his vast encyclopaedia, he continued with cartographic projects up to 1709. He died in his native Venice on 9 December 1718.

Coronelli became famous for his globes. In addition, he was a renowned encyclopaedist, mapmaker and geographer. Most of his maps and other material are gathered in his Atlante Veneto (13 vols, 1690-1705). The first volume, subtitled Descrizione generale istorica geografica, was his masterpiece, planned as an extension of Blaeu’s atlas.

Other volumes of the atlas which contain maps are Isolario, two parts (1696-8), with detailed maps and plans, mostly of islands; Corso geografico, two parts based on the edition 1694-7; Libro de’ globi (1697); and Lo Specchio del Mare, a reprint of Levanto's Lo Specchio del Mare Mediterraneo of 1664.

The other vital aspects of his mapping are those arising from the Venetian conquest and his travels. His most extensive military compilation was the Teatro della Guerra, in more than 30 volumes.