Author: Ernest Dudley Chase
Year: 1935
This is a reproduction print of the historical pictorial map “Italy, with Vatican City”, created and published by Ernest Dudley Chase in Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1935.
The map presents Italy and Vatican City through an elaborate combination of geography, history and illustration. Major cities including Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan appear alongside numerous monuments, historic sites, regional landmarks and cultural references.
Chase enriched the map with an ornate compass rose, decorative cartouche, ships, sea monsters and illustrated vignettes, drawing inspiration from the decorative traditions of early mapmaking. Mountains and other terrain features are represented pictorially, giving the map its distinctive three-dimensional character.
The original map measured approximately 24 × 60 cm and was produced at a scale of 1:2,300,000. Its unusually tall composition and wealth of miniature illustrations make it a striking example of 20th-century pictorial cartography.
