Giacomo Gastaldi (Venice, 1548)

A fair example of Gastaldi's map of the region bounded by the Sea of Persia and the Caspian Sea in the West and extending to the source of the Indus River in the East. Ornate figure in the upper left and bird in the upper right. Minor loss and discoloration at the centerfold. Giacomo Gastaldi is considered as the foremost Italian cartographer of the 16th century along with Paolo Forlani. From Piedmont, Gastaldi established his reputation in Venice and was cosmographer to the Republic of Venice. Gastaldi enjoyed a productive relationship with Giovanni Ramusio, Secretary of the Venice Senate, who used Gastaldi's maps for his Navigationi et Viaggi. This map is from Gastaldi's edition of Ptolemy, Ptolemeo. La Geografia..., begun as early as 1542 and published in Venice in 1548.