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Books, Autographs & Prints

Friday 15 December 2023, 11:00 AM • Rome

40

Malta

New and final plan of Malta received from the notices of the 14th and 19th of September where you can see the place in which the Most Excellent S.or D. Garzia disembarked the soldiers and their Victory and the escape of the Turkish Army, 1565

Estimate

€ 15.000 - 18.000

Sold

€ 37.890

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

In Rome, S.to Agostino in Insegna della Palomba, (1565). Etching on copper. Measurement cm. 50.5 x 40, trimmed when the copper is beaten. At the top left the title, at the right and bottom left two legends, one in Roman numerals with 12 references and the other in letters with 12 references.

Specialist Notes

“The map, unlike Lafrery's map, already shows the walls of the new city (Valletta), a navigable canal to join the Grand Harbor to the Port of Marsamscetto and finally the deployment of the Christian armies and the escape of the Turkish ships”. The St. Elmo Peninsula is depicted as an island. Although the map shows the departure of the Turks from Malta in September 1565, it also shows the walls of the new fortified city later called Valletta after its founder Jean de La Vallette. The formal decision to build the new walled city was made on March 14, 1566 (Hoppen, p. 32), and finished in 1568. It is possible that an earlier state of the map without "La noua citta" exists. See Ganado, vol. I, page. 83. Royal Collection Trust 721041. Not in Tooley.