Europa Prima Pars Terrae in Forma Virginis

Rare, finely coloured, woodcut map of Europe, which depicts the continent in the form of a (virgin) queen. The work -- as widely known: "Europa Regina" -- was published in a German edition of Heinrich Bünting's "Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae…" in 1599 and is one of the earliest printed anthropomorphic maps. The first anthropomorphic design used on the Italian priest, Opicinus de Canistris' 14th-century manuscript maps (currently kept in Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana). The first known cartographic representation of "Europa Regina" dates back to the 16th century, and the anthropomorphic maps -- which depict cartographic elements in human form -- had soon gained popularity among the contemporary geographical depictions. Based on the Tyrolean Johannes Putsch's 1537 work, later Sebastian Münster published a version in his 1544 Cosmographia . The Protestant theologian, Heinrich Bünting’s representation (first published in Wittenberg in 1581) is larger than the earlier variants and has nowadays become one of the most desired 16th-century maps. The engraver depicted the Danube as the closure of the queen’s dress (the „buttons” are Vienna, Buda and Nándorfehérvár), and the line of the Dinaric and Balkan Mountains as an ornament on it. The Alps and the River Rhine are placed as a necklace around Her Majesty’s neck, and in the sea – surrounding Europe – a galley and fishes are shown. The title and a short – rhyming – explanatory text can be read outside the map field. German text on the back of the sheet.
Dimensions: 235 x 350 mm. Fine, clear copy. Framed.