Copper engraving, mm 427x585; original outline color, good condition even if trimmed at platemark. From “Mercurio geografico”. Giacomo Cantelli, geographer and cartographer, was born on February 22nd 1643 in Montersello near Vignola , city to which his name was then associated (‘da Vignola’). He undertook humanistic studies in Bologna where in 1669 he became the secretary of Marquise Obizzo da Ferrara. Then he moved to Venice and later on to Paris, where he established a connection with the most important French geographers of that time, Du Val, Nicola Sanson and especially Michel Antoine Baudrand, with whom he always maintained a close correspondence. Back to Bologna, he was the secretary of Rinieri Marescotti for many years. In 1675, or shortly after, he went, perhaps several times, to Rome and came into contact with the renowned cartographic workshop of De Rossis, through which he would have later published the most part of his maps. Among these (or at least among those dated), the most ancient are dated, for what is known, 1679 (Holy Land, Kingdom of Naples) and 1680 (Northern Lombardy) while many others were published in subsequent years. His good repute as a cartographer strengthened to the point the he was had up by Pope Innocent XI and by the Duke of Modena and Reggio, Francesco II d’Este, who both wanted him as their official cartographer. He chose the court of Francesco II d’Este, and in November 1685 was appointed court geographer. From 1686 to 1689 he delivered several maps of European countries and territories. He also built with his own hands a globe and a celestial globe, which remained exhibited for quite a long time in the atrium of the Estense library in Modena. He died in Modena on November 30th 1695. Almost all of his maps were included in the Mercurio Geografico, the famous atlas published by the De Rossis in Rome. In the first edition of the Mercurio Geografico there were 19 of his maps together with others by Sanson and by Baudrand. In 1692 a new issue was published in two volumes. These contained only his works, i.e. 88 maps carved by the engraver Antonio Barbey. A list of Cantelli’s 63 maps was made by historian Luigi Vischi in 1886.