Lot 120: SOUTHERN ITALY - LAFRERI SCHOOL.

Regno di Napoli Venice: Libreria della Stella, 1557. Engraved map of southern Italy, 330 x 429mm, trimmed with original extended margins. Tooley:1939 no.401, Woodward:1996 watermark 207.

LIGORIO, PIRRO (c.1513/4-1583).
Nova Regno Neapolit. Descript. Rome: Michele Tramezzino, 1558. Engraved map of southern Italy by Sebastiano di Ré, 440 x 682mm, trimmed with original extended margins (13cm tear, with some loss to upper right of map, light discolouration to upper-centre and lower right of map.) Karrow no.51/5, Tooley:1939 no.403, Woodward:1996 watermark 194.

Two very rare maps of southern Italy. The second map is centred on Naples, which was the native city of its creator, Pirro Ligorio. In addition to his interests in cartography, Ligorio was a painter, architect and antiquarian best known for his monumental work on Roman antiquities Dell' Antichità. He was also the victim of Michelangelo's mercurial temperament, having been dismissed from the project to complete St.Peter's in Rome, following a fierce argument. This vibrant and highly-detailed work, was the first in a planned series of regional maps of Italy. It was printed by Michele Tramezzino, who ambitiously straddled both of the key Italian cartographic centres; operating a shop in Rome with his older brother Francesco, and another in Venice. Ligorio's map of the region became the key influence for numerous subsequent maps, notably those by Ortelius, Gerard de Jode and Matthias Quad.

LAFRERI SCHOOL (2)

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