The Fort Worth Star-Telegram at dfw.com has an announcement regarding the Fifth Biennial Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography: “Mapping the Sacred” this coming Friday, October 6th, 2006 to be held at the University of Texas at Arlington Central Library.

The day will feature presentations by cartographic scholars from the United States, England, Israel and Lebanon, in addition to the opening of the Special Collections exhibit “Mapping the Sacred: Belief and Religion in the History of Cartography,” and will be followed on Saturday by the fall meeting of the Texas Map Society.

The lectures will focus on how religions of the world used maps to depict sacred ideas and, at times, to keep track of worldly territories. Many of the world’s major religions will be represented in the lectures, including Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Mormonism, and Native American.

The article notes that the cartouche pictured above from from Dutch engraver and map seller Frederick de Wit’s map of America, Novißima et Accuratißima Septentrionalis ac Meridionalis Americae, published in Amsterdam in 1680, illustrates a finely rendered baroque cartouche that uses a winged angel and an allegorical figure of a beautiful woman clothed in swirling drapery, carrying a small cross to represent christianity, while less appealing allegorical figures represent America (at left, with a feather headdress) and heresy or false religion (the figure at right, with demonlike claws on feet and hands.)

The public is welcome at all events.

[tags]Garrett Lectures, History of Cartography, Cartouches, Antique Maps, Maps and Religion[/tags]

The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine ran an exibition entitled, “Charting Neptune’s Realm From Classical Mythology to Satellite Imagery” from April 2000 – January 2001. The library has made available a series of lesson plans extending from this exhibit which provide a wealth of information on the history of cartography. Amongst the things I have learned so far:

A cartouche (kar-TOOSH) is literally a coffin of paper. It can be used to describe small packages such as a paper cartridge for a musket or pistol, to the scroll on the top of an Ionic column. In map making, the cartouche is the decorative enclosure on a map. In general terms, the cartouche is any decoration on the map itself that is self contained. Thus the seal and supporters of England including the lion, unicorn, and the shield is a cartouche. A picture of a dragon in the Pacific Ocean is an embellishment rather than a cartouche.

Italian mapmakers began using the cartouche on their maps in the 1500’s. They designed simple scrolls that later resembled carved, wooden panels. When the Dutch and Flemish became the leading cartographers in the mid 1500’s they added more embellishments. They were inspired by prints of the famous artists of their day. These were also copied and made into pattern books. They were embellished with mythical creatures, kings, queens, gods and goddesses. A particular print shop would have favorite designs they used again and again, just making slight changes. All maps were printed in black and white because they had not perfected the color registration (the alignment of different printing plates) so the maps had to be hand colored. The cartouche was the signature of the mapmaker. A great deal of information could be included in the cartouche. The name of the mapmaker and the date the map was made might be there or information honoring the country or leader who commissioned the map.

In the later twentieth century the decorating of the map with a maker’s cartouche has become less important, but maps for private purchase still retain the cartouche…

The lesson also points out the influence of the Baroque and Rococo styles on the decorative qualities of so many antique maps:

Baroque: 1600-1700;  Baroque style characterized by an excess of cherubs, leaves, fruit, animals, and allegorical figures. The style first appeared in Venice in the late 1500’s. Baroque art is large in scale and filled with dramatic details. The more dramatic baroque architect would replace the rectangular areas with curved areas.

Rococo: 1650 – 1790; Rococo is a simpler style. It was a style of art that flourished in western Europe from about 1700 to 1780. The term comes from a French word for a fanciful rock or shell design. It implies a refined, elegant feeling and style.

[tags]Antique Maps, Cartography, Cartographic History[/tags]