Page 226 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

226 from Italy to the Canary Islands

of the Roman College of the Jesuits.
The projection of the Planisphere is plain, the one wind rose is placed
above the signature and is divided into 16 rhumbs.
The date of the map and the name of the cartographer are listed in the
following legend: Presbiter Bartolomeus de pareto civis Ianue Acolitus
Santissimi Domini nostri pape composuit hanc Cartam MCCCCLV in
Ianua. A few inches below the legend was another inscription of which
only the first word can be read, Camara------ and at the bottom of the
parchment is a shield with some checkered horizontal bands across it,
and to the sides of it are two great capital letters, N.V., which can be
interpreted as Nicolaus Quinlus, to whom the Planisphere was dedicated,
who belonged to the Parentucelli di Sarzana, a Ligurian family.
I think I should note that the silver colour is almost everywhere
vanished from the map and changed into a dark bluish or black colour,
which could possibly result from the oxidation of silver coming in contact
with potassium sulphide, or sulphur chloride, which are found scattered
in the atmosphere, although in tenuous measure. The silver background of
the flag of Genoa located in the Lanzerotta is in fact seen to have changed
into a brown tint, and some large birds outlined in the waters of the Nile
are very black and were probably swans with silvery coats.
This observation of mine applies to several other maps where I saw
the same changes to which the silver tint was subjected. Rome, Vittorio
Emanuele National Library.