Antique World Map by Vaugondy (1743)

Description: Antique world map titled 'Mappemonde ou Description du Globe Terrestre'. The Robert de Vaugondy family of mapmakers was preeminent in the eighteenth century, at a time when the French were at the forefront of cartography. Gilles Robert de Vaugondy was a descendent of the family of the great 17th century French cartographer Nicolas Sanson. Sanson had initiated the so-called “French school of cartography,” which was unprecedented in its attention to precision and scientific detail, and which discarded much of the decorative embellishments of previous maps as being irrelevant. From Sanson’s time in the second half of the seventeenth century until the latter part of the eighteenth century, with the activity of the Robert de Vaugondy family, French geographical conceptions were more influential than those of any other nation. Gilles Robert de Vaugondy inherited the firm of his uncle, Pierre Moullart-Sanson, in 1730. He enlarged the stock of his family company when he purchased the estate of another acclaimed cartographer, Hubert Jaillot. He and other family members combined much of the inherited cartographic material with their own innovations, as well as those of the most advanced American mapmakers, to publish a series of beautifully produced atlases at midcentury. Gilles and his son, Didier, were the most celebrated members of the cartography dynasty, both honored with the title of Geographer to the King, Gilles in 1730 and Didier in 1760. They were responsible for this large-scale, remarkably accurate world map. In compiling it, they revised and corrected material from Sanson and Jaillot, and added many new place names. As a result, this map was one of the most advanced of its day. In a move that was characteristic of French scientific cartography, the unknown areas were left blank, rather than invented (see, for example, thein complete coastlines of Australia and North America). This is a magnificent map by this distinguished family of mapmakers.

Artists and Engravers: Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1688 - 1766), also known as Le Sieur or Monsieur Robert, and his son, Didier Robert de Vaugondy (c.1723 - 1786), were leading mapmakers in France during the 18th century. In 1757, they published The Atlas Universel, one of the most important atlases of the 18th century. To produce the atlas, the Vaugondys integrated older sources with more modern surveyed maps. They verified and corrected the latitude and longitude of many regional maps in the atlas with astronomical observations. The older material was revised with the addition of many new place names. In 1760, Didier Robert de Vaugondy was appointed geographer to Louis XV.