76 Bouloux
maps, as was the case in the map made by Pietro Vesconte for Marino Sanudo.
In other cases, the inclusion of their vernacular place names enriched the
scholarly texts, as demonstrated by the example of Fazio degli Uberti. At the
same time, the number of toponyms and the contours of the Mediterranean
coast became sufficiently normalized to yield a standardized image, as can
be seen in the chart drawn in 1467 by the Italian Grazioso Benincasa (1420–
1482), who was active in Rome, Venice, and Ancona (Fig. 2.1).24 The drawing
of the island, highlighted in red, accentuates the crevasses along the shoreline
through a succession of curved lines directed towards the interior, which alter-
nate with more rectilinear lines; as a whole, the ensemble conveys a sense of
false precision. Red points in the sea are used to indicate shallow waters and
sandbanks, crosses and black points are used for rocks, in accordance with the
conventions of marine mapmaking. Lastly, the toponyms are listed in the ver-
nacular and are written inside the interior of the island perpendicular to the
coast, the most important being written in red ink and the others in black ink.
Although the overall form of the island is relatively accurate, at a larger scale it
is much less precise. On the other hand, at a smaller scale, the location of the
island in the general scheme of the Western Mediterranean is quite accurate.
The drawing of the island is nearly identical in other charts—a detailed study
of its coastline and the place names according to different witnesses would
allow one to be more precise and perhaps more nuanced as to the history of
its stabilization.
The outline of Sardinia has a different shape in the maps of Ptolemy’s
Geography, translated at the beginning of the fifteenth century.25 In terms of
knowledge of the island, the contributions of the Geography are of two orders:
a new stock of antique place names to add to the Latin and modern terms; and
the concept of the regional map. The Sardinian map, drawn in almost all the
manuscripts of the fifteenth century as lying opposite Sicily, provides different
contours to the charts (Fig. 2.2) as well as new detailed information, especially
in relation to the interior of the island and the rivers. Finally, a third image of
Sardinia is disseminated in the modern maps of Italy, drawn on parchment
24 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cartes et plans, GEDD 69 Res., fol. 2v.
M. Emiliani, “Le carte nautiche dei Benincasa cartografi anconetani,” Bolletino della Reale
Società Italiana, VII, ser. I (1936), pp. 485–510; E. Vagnon, “Un atlas retrouvé de Grazioso
Benincasa. Cartographie marine à la fin du XVe s. d’après les collections de la Bibliothèque
nationale de France,” Cartographier la mer. Le Monde des Cartes. Revue du Comité français
de Cartographie, 184 ( June 2005), pp. 12–22.
25 For the reception of the Geography, see Patrick Gautier Dalché, La Géographie de Ptolémée
en Occident (Ive–XVIe siècle) (Turnout, 2009).