BOSCHINI, Marco
The Italian painter and engraver Marco Boschini (1613-1678) was born in Venice and studied at the school of Palma il Giovane. He painted the fresco of the "Last Supper" for the altar of San Girolamo in his home city. Boschini distinguished himself mainly as an engraver and author of several books on art, such as "La Carta del Navegar pittoresco" (1660), "Le minere della pittura veneziana" (1664), and "Le ricche minere della pittura veneziana" (1674). He also wrote city guides to Venice and Vincenza. "La carta del Navegar pittoresco dialogo..." is an encyclopedic work on painters, presented as a navigation in the world of art, giving brief biographies of many of his contemporary artists. However, Boschini gained his income mainly from dealing in art works and precious objects. He was an agent for many eminent persons of his era, among them Leopoldo de’ Medici.
Interested in cartography too, he composed this "isolario" of the Aegean Sea. A small beautiful sample of mid-seventeenth century Venetian engraving, this edition includes forty-eight maps of individual islands and a collective map of the Aegean, each one accompanied by explanatory texts with historical and geographical data.
Written by Ioli Vingopoulou
