This fascinating map by the famous Venetian cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli and published in 1690 as part of the monumental work “Corso Geografico Universale,” is a fine example of Baroque cartography, where geographic information is blended with a rich decorative apparatus.
The map depicts in great detail the southwestern region of France, including the areas of the Médoc, Guienne, Saintonge, and Aunis, with emphasis on the course of the Garonne River and the Atlantic coast. In the center of the sheet, amidst dense toponymic annotations and precise hydrographic rendering, numerous heraldic coats of arms stand out, embellishing the composition and referring to noble families or territorial entities of the time.
The elegance of the work is accentuated by the presence of two putti, one of which holds the metrical scale and the other the heraldic coat of arms, and by the cartouche framing the author’s dedication “To D.P. Mattia Toscani”-probably the work’s patron or important supporter. The entire decorative apparatus reflects Coronelli’s typical style, in which the aesthetic function is harmoniously intertwined with the scientific one.
An element of particular note is the cartographic insert at the bottom: a topographical plan of the city of Bordeaux, enclosed by ramparts and fortifications, showing the main streets and urban structures of the time, overlooking the Garonne River.
Vincenzo Maria Coronelli is widely considered one of Italy’s greatest, hardest-working and most famous cartographers. He is credited with many geographical works such as Atlante Veneto, Isolario, Il Corso Geografico Universale, Le Singolarità di Venezia, Il libro dei Globi, Il Teatro delle Città and many others. Born in 1650, he received ecclesiastical education at the Order of the Conventual Minors of St. Francis; he later became its Grand General and earned the title of cosmographer of the Republic. He was also a public lecturer in geography at the University of Venice and founder, in the same convent of the Friars Minor, of the first geographical association: the Cosmographic Academy of the Argonauts. He became famous as a mathematician and cosmographer in 1681 and was called to the court of Louis XIV to build two extraordinary and highly refined globes, one terrestrial and one celestial, 4 meters in diameter. Coronelli’s cartographic production consists of about 500 maps all based on multiple sources that enabled him to enrich his maps with a great deal of information and sometimes to insert curiosities and historical events at the bottom of some famous places.
