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1531

Nova, et integra universi orbis descriptio by Oronce Finé

Nova, et Integra Universi Orbis Descriptio by Oronce Fine

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Oronce Finé (1491–1555)
Nova, et integra universi orbis descriptio
Double heart-shaped world map, including Terra Australis, ‘recently discovered but not yet explored’.
engraving; 17.0 x 23.5 cm
Basel: Christian Wechel, 1540 [1531]
State Library of New South Wales

See also: nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm2796

Oronce Finé is famous for his heart-shaped world maps. His cartographic knowledge is based on the theories of early mapmakers such as Macrobius and the Alexandrian cosmographer Claudius Ptolemy, whose Geographica was widely studied in the fifteenth century. The map reflects the Spanish and Portuguese discovery of passages through to the Indian Ocean. There are many bays, rivers, and mountains that are products of Finé's imagination. Finé was the first to produce maps that were influenced by Magellan's world voyage (1519–22). The map shows America as linked to Asia, and the Pacific Ocean is greatly undersized.