Article ID: CBB000470407

The World Map as an Emblem: Abraham Ortelius and the Stoic Contemplation (2003)

unapi

Although the close association of word and image in medieval cartography is widely acknowledged, the significance of the relationship after the rediscovery of Ptolemy's Geography and throughout the Renaissance has been overlooked, despite Abraham Ortelius's choice of the term 'Reader' for users of the Theatrum orbis terrarum (1570). In this paper, the map of the world, which (as in Ptolemy's Geography) opens Ortelius's Theatrum, is analysed to show how Ortelius's concept of space was very different from Ptolemy's. Attention is drawn to the content of the texts on the map, to Ortelius's notion of geography as the eye of history, and to the importance in the Renaissance of the emblem as a conceit, or device, in the system of acquisition and transmission of knowledge. As in emblems, the words on Ortelius's map are not there to explain or to comment on what is seen but to give the image meaning; the purpose of the map is to invite contemplation of God's world. The map is contradictory, however; for Ortelius's accurate and up-to-date presentation of the physical world is qualified by a verbal statement that the world is 'nothing', a mere pinpoint in the immensity of the universe. It is concluded that Ortelius was not a geographer in the same way Ptolemy was, and that Ortelius was using geography as a philosopher and his world map as an illustration of his moral and religious thinking.

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Authors & Contributors
Mangani, Giorgio
Broecke, Marcel van den
Ketelaar, Kees
Joost Depuydt
Zuber, Mike A.
Vandersmissen, Jan
Concepts
Cartography
Maps; atlases
Geography
Transmission of material objects
Scientific illustration
Printing industry
Time Periods
Renaissance
16th century
17th century
15th century
19th century
Places
Netherlands
Antwerp
Florence (Italy)
Italy
Europe
Belgium
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