The Leardo Map of the World, 1452 or 1453: In the Collections of the American Geographical SocietyWright, John Kirtland
History
The Leardo Map of the World, 1452 or 1453: In the Collections of the American Geographical Society
Wright, John Kirtland
Early maps; Leardo, Giovanni
[4]As much of this digit as remains might be the upper part of either a
2, a 3, or a 7. Since the Easter calendar begins with 1453 the date
could hardly be earlier than Easter, 1452. For the same reason, it
is not likely to have been as late as 1457, the only possible date
after 1453. On the Vicenza Leardo map the Easter calendar begins
with the year in which the map is dated, 1448; on the Verona map of
1442 the calendar begins with the preceding year, 1441. A
discrepancy of four years between the beginning of the calendar and
the date of the map, however, is most improbable.
Santarem, Vol. 3, p. 399, and Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 6, cite two
mid-eighteenth century MSS in the Library of St. Mark’s, Venice,
which contain entries relating to a map by Giovanni Leardo dated
1447. One of these MS is that of the Doge Marco Foscarini (Codex
ital., XI, 123, p. 42), the other that of a contemporary scholar,
Giovanni degli Agostini (Codex ital., VII, 291, p. 542; this and the
preceding reference were furnished to the present writer by the
Chief Librarian of the Library of St. Mark’s; they do not agree
exactly with the references as given by Santarem and Berchet).
The passage from the Foscarini MS (Fig. 2) may be translated thus:
“Gio. Leardo, who flourished in 1440, made a planisphere on
parchment on which was written _Leardius de Venetiis me fecit anno
1447_. It was at the house of (_era presso_) Bernardo Trevisano.
Apostolo Zeno saw it many times and marveled at seeing the exactness
of the design.” The passage from the Agostini MS (Fig. 3) runs as
follows: “Giovanni Leardo: This (man) lived shortly before the
middle of the fifteenth century, and he delighted in geography and
spheres. In the Trevisan Library was preserved a planisphere by him
on parchment on which could be seen delineated the whole terraqueous
globe with all the signs and celestial constellations, beneath
which, according to his assertion, every part is placed. At the
bottom of this parchment these words may be read: _Joannes Leardius
de Venetiis me fecit ab anno 1447_. It is curious to see how in his
time, when not many discoveries had been made and navigation was so
little advanced, the positions of the provinces and of the seas were
conceived.”
Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 7, points out that the arms at the top of
the parchment of the Leardo map now belonging to the American
Geographical Society are those of the Trevisan house. He reads
incorrectly, however, the date given by Agostini as 1452, concluding
therefrom that the map mentioned by the latter was the same as the
Society’s map, the date of which he also reads as 1452. In view of
the actual difference in the dates, we may conclude that Leardo
constructed two maps for the Trevisan family, and that the one dated
1447 is yet to be rediscovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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