NL38 - Brussels International Map Collectors

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION II
La Mer à l'Encre – Trois siècles de cartes marines – XVI e – XVIII e siècles
(The sea in ink – Three centuries of sea charts – 16 th-18 th centuries)
Corderie Royale – Rochefort-sur-mer, until 31 December 2011
The exhibition, on display until
31 December 2011 in Rochefort
(Charente Maritime, France) in the
showrooms of the Royal Rope
Factory 1 , was conceived and
realised in collaboration with the
Department of Defence history of
Vincennes and its local branch of
Rochefort.
The exhibition focuses on three
areas:
• A p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e
cartographic production in
Normandy during the 16 th and
17 th centuries;
• A presentation dedicated
entirely to the Neptune François
(published in 1693), the general
cartographic work completed on
the initiative of Colbert, minister
of Louis XIV;
• Finally, through filmed theatre
and projected video, the visitor
is invited to attend a debate between a
cartographer of the 18 th century engaged in
calculations without end, and a captain focused on
the avoidance of very real obstacles.
Only the first two areas are reported here.
The exhibition presents a rich iconography mostly
provided by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and
the Naval department of the Service Historique de la
Défense of Vincennes together with ancient
navigational instruments.
Cartographic production since the Middle Ages
Before ‘Norman’ mapping, the exhibition presents:
• The so-called ‘Pisan’ map, the oldest known
western chart representing full details of the
Mediterranean and more roughly the Atlantic coast
and the Channel, probably drawn around 1290 in
Genoa;
• The Portolan Chart certainly executed in Palma de
Mallorca in 1339 and signed by Angelino Dulcert,
the first known Catalan map. This manuscript map
on parchment includes a rich nomenclature of the
hinterland together with the representation of
mountain ranges, rivers and lakes, even Mansa
Musa, emperor of Mali, appears;
• The Travels or Book of Marvels (1410) of Jean de
Mandeville.
1 For practical details, see page 36
6
Other sumptuous images are also
presented, such as:
• An excerpt from the Catalan
Atlas describing the Far East by
A braham Cr esques, 1 3 75
(reported in 1380 as being from
the library of Charles V, king of
France);
• The ‘Planisphere’ or ‘Cantino
World Map’ of Alberto Cantino
(about 1502) that marks the end of
the medieval era and represents
the divide of the world between
Spain and Portugal as a result of
the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494;
• The Map of Atlantic from the
Miller Atlas of Lopo Homem, 1519.
The so-called Norman maps
appeared later and their production
is linked to economic development
in Normandy. Norman mapping
developed around the port of
Dieppe under the leadership of major ship-owners
from Dieppe, like Jean Ango (1480-1551). The Dieppe
school is particularly active between 1540 and 1634,
its golden age being between 1540 and 1580. This
school is in fact the city school of hydrography where
the art of navigation was taught. The school was
mainly led by the priest Pierre Desceliers (1487-1553)
and cartographers, from Nicolas Desliens to Jacques
de Vau de Claye including Jean Rotz, Nicolas Vallard,
Pierre Descelliers, Guillaume Le Testu and Jean
Cosson. The reputation of Norman cartography
continues until the 17 th century thanks to the pilots
Pierre de Vaulx and Jean Guérard.
The Universal Cosmography of 1556 by Guillaume
Le Testu is an example of the persistence of a
phantasmagorical representation of the world in
opposition to an increasingly concrete awareness of
the actual world.
More modest, the Conquet School shines in
Britanny through Guillaume Brouscou who in 1548
published the Manual of navigation for the use of
Breton sailors.
The exhibition also addresses the complexity of
the maps and their impact on the art of navigation at
sea, with excerpts from the Diary of Francis Drake, as
well as on the art of sailing close to the coast, with
excerpts from the Great rudder of the sea by Pierre
Garcie called Ferrande, Venetian coastal trade
master, which was reprinted 25 times between 1518
and 1643.
From the 16 th to the 17 th century, the Netherlands
BIMCC Newsletter No 38 September 2010