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Italia di Matteo Greuter (small version)

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Italia di Matteo Greuter (small version)

Author: Matteo Greuter

Year/Period: 1657

Size:Inches:40 x 22
CM:104 X 57

Price: $649.99

SKU: ITA 13/B

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Description:

Matteo Greuter (also Matthaeus or Matthaus - Strasbourg, 1564 _ Rome, 1638), was a German painter and engraver. He worked in Lyon, Avignon and Rome and distinguished himself for his extremely accurate and elegant technique. He engraved numerous religious and mythological objects and He is most famous for his beautiful map of Rome (1608) and this map of Italy which, at 12 pages, is the largest one ever published. There are three rare versions of the map. The first one, which is the one being proposed here, was published in Venice by Stefano Mozzo Scolari in 1567. The second version was printed and published in 1675 in Bologna by Pietro Todeschi and the third was published in 1695 in Rome by the printing company of Domenico De Rossi. The map is quite large (89 x 45 inches) and is produced to a scale of 1:540,000. The longitudes shown are relative to the Cape Verde islands. The peculiar feature of this map is Greuter's decision to arrange Italy horizontally, as he explains in the scroll ornament on the map itself.
The place names are in Italian and the map contains allegorical figures from various regions of Italy and perspective maps of some of the major Italian cities. The three major islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica are shown in 3 separate insets.

Engraving Information:

This artistic reproduction of an antique map was made using the same techniques, materials and instruments used for the original. Map is created from a zinc slab that is mounted on a wooden base and printed by hand, a piece at the time, on a press with a limited production size of 20 pieces each time. Map is printed on cotton-paper panels which are glued and mounted on a cotton cloth background "a stacchi" (slightly separated from each other), in order to allow for folding and easier transport. Finally, map is water-colored by hand, making it a truly unique piece, worthy of the original vintage map.