Visualizing the Globe: Contemporary Influences on the Manuscript Maps of Dati's La Sfera

This poster outlines my work on the manuscript maps of La Sfera by Gregorio Dati and how they are related to other contemporary styles of maps such as portolan charts and mappae mundi. La Sfera, or The Globe, was written around 1425 in Florence by Dati, who was a Florentine merchant and government official. La Sfera is a poem made up of four books covering astronomy in book one; natural phenomena like elements, humors, and seasons in book two; the winds, navigation, and basic geography in book three; and an itinerary of major Mediterranean and Black Sea ports in book four. There are about 163 extant manuscripts of La Sfera today, which is a large amount for a work that is now mostly unknown.

About two-thirds of the extant manuscripts contain hand-drawn maps that accompany the text. My poster will analyze a selection of these maps to demonstrate their relationship to other kinds of maps commonly used in the early 15^th century. I am focusing on two major map types: portolan or nautical charts and mappae mundi; while mappae mundi were popular throughout the Middle Ages, portolan charts were created in the late 13^th century and popularized throughout the 14^th century. My poster will present three portolan charts, three mappae mundi, and various manuscripts from the La Sfera corpus. These maps will be used to analyze the various similarities and differences among the La Sfera maps and the contemporary maps. Using these images, I will demonstrate the influences of these various map traditions on the La Sfera corpus, so that we may better understand both the sources Dati relied on as he created La Sfera, and La Sfera’s place in the history of cartography. Mapmaking changed enormously in the 15^th century; my work contributes not only to our understanding of that process but also to the broader history of Italy and the Mediterranean on the cusp of the Renaissance.