Planisphere Jaillot

Nova orbis tabula ad usum serenissimi Burgundiae ducis, Hubert Jaillot - 1694

The exploits of Columbus, Vespucci, Caboto, Magellan and many other explorers gave, as is known, a portentous acceleration to geographical science. Starting from their discoveries, prolific cartographic ateliers gradually developed in Europe, ready to continuously create new maps or to update the old ones on the basis of the most recent information. Some coasts had not yet been explored, many islands had not yet been identified, and occasionally the shapes drawn by these scholars were rather imprecise. The instruments and measurement systems, however, were absolutely rudimentary compared to those we can use today, and starting from these assumptions, the quality of works such as this Nova Orbis Tabula can only amaze us. It is an ancient canvas created at the end of the seventeenth century by the illustrious French cartographer Hubert Jaillot. Like much of Jaillot's cartographic production, this planisphere is not distinguished so much by the cartographic material itself - however advanced and detailed - as by the care taken in the surrounding decoration.

A superbly decorated seventeenth-century planisphere

The eye is immediately captivated by the elegance of the upper and lower cartouches. Moreover, it was not just any planisphere: Jaillot dedicated it to the Duke of Burgundy, and it is probably to pay homage to this important figure that he drew in such a refined way the many allegorical figures that accompany this cartographic work.

To not impoverish this work in any way, the reproduction we propose on this page was made starting from the same printing techniques used to produce the original. The drawing is in fact reproduced using the relief printing technique, and therefore with the aid of a manual press and finely engraved plates by real artists, even before being artisans. It therefore follows that, given the particular method followed, each product is absolutely unique, due to the many, small and inevitable differences between one print and another.

*** Our canvases are printed with a hand press and are produced on request only. It takes about 10 days for the Black & White version and about 20 days for the Hand-painted.

Attention: the canvases are delivered without frame.