Pietro Vesconte
Pietro Vesconte (fl. 1310–1330) was an Italian cartographer and geographer from the Republic of Genoa. A pioneer of the field of the portolan chart, he influenced Italian and Catalan mapmaking throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Also recorded as Perrino Visconte · Pietro Visconte · Pietro Visconti
Pietro Vesconte
Pietro Vesconte · Museo Correr, Venice · Public domain
- Born
- the 14th century.
- Died
- Pietro Vesconte died, sources differ on the date (in 1330 and in the 15th century).
- Occupation
- cartographer.
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Pietro Vesconte (fl. 1310–1330) was an Italian cartographer and geographer from the Republic of Genoa. A pioneer of the field of the portolan chart, he influenced Italian and Catalan mapmaking throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
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wikidata · Q1623758 · wikipedia · Pietro Vesconte
In this article
Life
Life
He appears to have been the first professional mapmaker to sign and date his works regularly.
Although Vesconte was born in Genoa, he produced much of his work in Venice. He was active between 1310 and 1330, producing numerous maps. His nautical charts are among the earliest to map the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions accurately. He also produced progressively more accurate depictions of the coastlines of northern Europe, in particular that of Britain and, to a lesser extent, Ireland. Pietro Vesconte's 1311 portolan chart of the east Mediterranean is the oldest signed and dated nautical chart that survives from the medieval period. He is also the author of at least four signed multi-sheet atlases (1313, 1318a, 1318b, c. 1321), where the various sheets can be combined into a single nautical chart. There is also an atlas (1321) and a solitary portolan chart (1327) signed by "Perrino Vesconte", assumed to be either Pietro himself or possibly a younger relative member of his family using a diminutive form of 'Pietro'. The image of a mapmaker at work, which appears in a Vesconte atlas of 1318, may depict the chartmaker himself. Pietro Vesconte brought his experience as a maker of portolans to bear on the mappa mundi (circular world map) he produced, which introduced a previously unheard of accuracy to the genre. He provided a world map, nautical atlas, a map of the Holy Land and plan of Acre and Jerusalem for inclusion in Marino Sanuto's Liber secretorum fidelium crucis, a work which aimed to encourage a new crusade. There are three known copies of Sanuto's Liber (c. 1320–21, c. 1321, c. 1325) that include Vesconte's maps, only the first of which is signed; the latter two are confidently assumed to have been done by him, or at least under his direction.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1300
Pietro Vesconte was born on 1 January 1300.
1330
Pietro Vesconte died on 1 January 1400.
Works by or attributed to Vesconte
The following works have been signed or attributed to Pietro Vesconte. 1311 dated & signed portolan chart of the east Mediterranean, held (C.N.1) by the Archivio di Stato in Florence, Italy. 1313 dated & signed atlas of six sheets held (DD 687) by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, France. (1. calendar, 2. Black Sea, 3. Aegean Sea, 4. east Mediterranean, 5. central Mediterranean, 6. west Mediterranean and British Isles) 1318 dated & signed atlas of seven sheets held (Port. 28) by Museo Correr in Venice, Italy. (1 calendar, 2. Black Sea, 3. east Medit., 4. central Med., 5. west Med, 6. Spain and north Africa, 7. north Atlantic) 1318 dated & signed atlas of ten sheets held (MS 594) by Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, Austria. (1.calendar, 2. Black Sea, 3. east Medit., 4. central Medit. (south), 6. central Medit. (north) 7. west Medit., 8. Spain and French Atlantic coast, 9. British Isles, 10. Adriatic Sea) c.1320-21 undated but signed by Vesconte, for Marino Sanudo's Liber secretorum, mappa mundi plus atlas of five sheets (partially missing), held (Pal. Lat.1362A) by the Bibliotheca Apostolica in Vatican City (2. Black sea, 3. Aegean, 4. Palestine & east Medit. 5. Adriatic and North Africa, 6. west Medit and north Atlantic) 1321 dated and signed Perrino Vesconte, atlas of five sheets held (R.P.4) by the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich, Switzerland. (1 calendar, 2. Spain and north Atlantic, 3. central Medit., 4. east Medit. 5. Black Sea) c.1320-21 undated Atlas of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Coasts of Europe, attributed to Petrus Vesconte de Ianua. Eighteen folios (nine sheets) on vellum parchment, currently held by the Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon (MS 175), but available to view online at Gallica): folios 1–2. Calendar, 3–4. Rhumbline Network, 5–6.Black Sea, 7–8. Eastern Mediterranean Basin, 9–10. Central Mediterranean Basin, 11–12. Western Mediterranean Basin A, 13–14. Western Mediterranean Basin B, 15–16. Atlantic Coasts (including Great Britain and Ireland), 17–18. Sicily and the Adriatic. c.1321 undated and unsigned, confidently attributed to Vesconte, for Marino Sanudo's Liber secretorum, mappa mundi and atlas of five sheets held (Vat. Lat. 2972) by the Bibliotheca Apostolica in Vatican City (1. Black Sea, 2. Aegean and north Africa, 3. Palestine & east Medit. 4. central medit,5. west Medit and north Atlantic) c.1325 undated and unsigned, confidently attributed to Vesconte, for Marino Sanudo's Liber secretorum, mappa mundi and atlas of five sheets, held (Add MS 27376) by the British Library, in London, UK. (1. Spain and north Atlantic, 2. central Medit., 3. Palestine & east Medit., 4. Aegean & north Africa, 5. Black Sea) 1327 dated and signed Perrino Vesconte, portolan chart, held (Med Palat.248) by the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, Italy.
Fragment from a map (1311) by Pietro Vesconte, featuring pagan Latvians (Letoini pagani), included in the 1321 Chronicle by Marino Sanudo.
Pietro Vesconte (map), Marino Sanudo (chronicle) · Vatican Library’s digitized Chronicle by Marino Sanudo, p. 138v.
Pietro Vesconte est l’un des premiers cartographes à signer des cartes et atlas maritimes que les historiens appellent des « portulans » par référence aux livres d’instruction nautique du Moyen Âge. On a conservé ainsi une dizaine d’atlas signés à Gênes et Venise entre 1311 et 1327. L’atlas portulan de Lyon (BmL, ms 175) est un très bel exemplaire de sa production. Conservé dans une reliure de boi
Pietro Vesconte · This file comes from Numelyo Digital Library and is available under the digital ID BML_02ENL01001Ms1753298.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Pietro Vesconte”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1623758: Pietro Vesconte
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Glick, Thomas F. Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. 117. 27 January 2014. 978-1-135-45932-1.
- 2.henry-davis.com. Slide #228F Monograph.
- 3.Allen, R. Eastward Bound: Travel and Travellers, 1050-1550. Manchester University Press. 137. 2004. 9780719066917.
- 4.University of Chicago Press. The History of Cartography: Cartography in prehistoric, ancient, and medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. 1. 2–432. 1987. 9780226316338.
- 5.Information organized by Tony Campbell, "Census of pre-sixteenth-century portolan charts" at maphistory.info, last visited June 16, 2011
- 6.Vesconte's 1313 Atlas can be found online at 1313 Vesconte Atlas at Gallica, BNF
- 7.The signature reads Perinus Vessconte d’Janua fecit istam tabula Anno dni Mccc xxj in Venecia. A copy of the 1321 atlas can be found online at 1321 Perrino Vesconte atlas at Netzwerk von Bibliotheken und Informationsstellen in der Schweiz (NEBIS, Switzerland)
- 8.A digital copy can be found online at the Digital Vatican Library
- 9.The signature reads Perrinus Vessconte fecit istam cartam Anno dhi M ccc xxvii in Veneciis (Cortesão, 1969: p.38)
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Cortesão, Armando (1969) History of Portuguese Cartography, Lisbon: Ultramar.
References
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Maps and atlases
1,180 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Pietro CoppoAuthor
- Pietro De MarinoAuthor
- Pietro la VegaAuthor
- Pietro RussoAuthor
- Piri ReisAuthor
- Potap Kuzmich ZaikovAuthor
- Poul LøvenørnAuthor
- Pyotr PakhtusovAuthor
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