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splendid woodcut map is one of the last great pre-Columbian views
of the world. Ptolemaic in derivation, it shows the "Old
World" with the Middle-east at the centre and southern Africa
joined to Asia. Like the Pomponius Mela map of 1482 on which
it is based, it shows evidence in the Gulf of Guinea of the recent
Portuguese discoveries. Christopher Columbus had actually returned
for his first voyage some 4 months before the Nuremberg Chronicle
was published but considering the Spanish secrecy regarding his
discoveries and the speed of communications at the time it not
surprising that there is no evidence of this here. Decoratively too the map harks back to the past. One of the most striking features of this map are the panels, seven on the front and fourteen on the verso, illustrating various grotesque and mythical creatures such as hippopeds, dog-headed men, cyclops and centaurs. These woodcuts together with the descriptions in the text are a fascinating amalgam of classical sources such as Pliny, misunderstood traveller's tales and superstition. Within the decorative border of the map there are 12 windheads supported by charming portraits of Ham, Shem and Japhet, the sons of Noah. This map, combining the remnants of classical geography with contemporary beliefs, and its appearance at this time of such momentous discoveries, gives it a claim to be regarded as one of the last maps to genuinely represent the Medieval world view. s Hartman Schedel's striking and bizarrely decorated woodcut is one of the last depictions of the world prior to Christopher Columbus' epic discoveries. |
