GIROLAMO RUSCELLI (Italian, ca.1504-1566)
TIERRA NVEVA
From: La Geografia di Claudio Tolemeo ... (Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1561)
Engraving, hand-colored, 18.7 x 24.5 cmOsher Collection

"The coastline on this map is copied directly from its prototype, drawn by Giacomo Gastaldi in 1548. Gastaldi had in turn taken it from Cartier's and Verrazano's voyages. He did not however accept Verrazano's idea of a western sea ( 3 ). Ruscelli modified the interior of the new continent: he hypothesized the presence of mountains inland; and, he joined the Hudson and St. Lawrence rivers, in accordance with Giovanni Ramusio's idea of their common connection and source. "