Mid-16th century Lafreri view of Istanbul.

Costantinopoli

Out of stock

SKU: NL-00490 Categories: , Tag:
Date: 1567
Place: Venice
Dimensions: 26 x 19 cm (10 x 7.5 in)
Condition Rating: VG+
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Description

This very rare bird’s-eye-view of Constantinople shows the city across the strategic Bosphorus Strait filled with ships. The detailed view depicts the streets and buildings throughout the city, with a lettered key at bottom identifying over 50 important locations. A large compass rose orients north to the top right.

Italian and Greek text on verso. This plan is by Forlani, one of the leading cartographers of the Lafreri School, and published in Giulio Ballino’s De’Disegni delle Piu Illustri Citta, et Fortezze del Mondo in 1569.

The Lafreri School was not actually a school, but a group of cartographers, mapmakers, engravers, and publishers who worked in the major Italian publishing centers of Rome and Venice, from about 1544 to 1585.

Cartographer(s):

Giulio Ballino Paolo Forlani

Paolo Forlani was an Italian map publisher and engraver based in Venice, especially active between 1560 and 1571.

Condition Description

Light soiling with a minor crease adjacent to the centerfold and remnants of hinge tape on verso.

References

Shirley (BL Atlases) T.BALL-1a #42. Tooley, Imago Mundi, III, no. 160, p. 25.