Portolan Chart by Jacopo Maggiolo

Commissioned by the Grand Duke of Tuscany from the pupil of the great Battista Agnese: spectacular watercolors presenting the state of European cartography in the mid-16th century

Created by the scion of a family of cartographers in the service of the maritime republic of Genoa: the cities and ports of the Mediterranean recorded on a beautifully decorated map by Giacomo Maggiolo

From the Isthmus of Panama in the West to the Caspian Sea and the Arabian Peninsula in the East: Venice's huge trading empire on a magnificently illuminated map

From the Cape of Good Hope to the stormy North Sea: the latest geographic findings of the Renaissance in four sumptuously illuminated portolan maps by the Genoese cartographer Visconte Maggiolo

A splendid example of portolan maps from the late Mallorcan school originating in Messina: an artistic and surprisingly precise depiction of the Mediterranean Sea and its adjacent regions

Impressive Majorcan cartography from Venice: golden coastlines and enthroned rulers on five magnificent nautical maps of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean