Cagliari vista dal mare. La costruzione dell’immagine per la Cosmoghraphia del Münster del 1550

Cagliari from seaside. The image in Münster’s Cosmographie, 1550 A study of the first air prospective of Cagliari reveals a high compositional prospective and complexity. The drawing, edited in 1550 by Sebastian Münster, based on geometrical principles typical of the thirteenth century, represents Cagliari, the city founded by the Pisans in the XIII century in order to become their port behind Africa in the Mediterranean sea. Cagliari was planned around two perpendicular axes, the most important being a projection linking two monumental towers in the midline of the drawing and indicating the naval path of access to the city harbour. Traditionally, a lawyer in his early twenties, Sigismondo Arquer, has been given credit for realizing the drawing. However, this interpretation could be premature as the type of aerial representation in question was typically created by highly experienced professional painters. As a matter of fact, some hidden signatures in the drawing suggest the contribution of artists working in the atelier of Sebastian Münster who were probably in contact with Sigismondo’s father, Giovanni Antonio Arquer. The latter had documented contacts with high government officials and persons who were planning the new fortification of the city. Giovanni, rather than his son Sigismondo, seems therefore to be holding the key information to access the ancient drawings that were needed to realize the drawing published by Sebastian Münster