Decorative and highly detailed map of the Gulf of Venice. Includes an ornate cartouche with 23 city plans in medallions and a large coat of arms. The second cartouche includes a large coat of arms and there are over a dozen other coats of arms in the map itself. One of the most decorative of all 17th Century maps of the region. Coronelli was possibly the best Italian mapmaker of his time. He made globes, including one 5 meters in diameter for Louis XIV. From Coronelli's rare Atlante Veneto, one of the most decorative and ornate of all 17th Century Atlases. The map exhibits the fine engraving style of this coveted Venetian Atlas. A nice example of this very and highly sought after map. Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650-1718) is one of the most influential Italian mapmakers and is known especially for his globes and atlases. The son of a tailor, Vincenzo was apprenticed to a xylographer (a wood block engraver) at a young age. At fifteen he became a novice in a Franciscan monastery. At sixteen he published his first book, the first of 140 publications he would write in his lifetime. The order recognized his intellectual ability and saw him educated in Venice and Rome. He earned a doctorate in theology, but also studied astronomy. By the late 1670s, he was working on geography and was commissioned to create a set of globes for the Duke of Parma. These globes were five feet in diameter. The Parma globes led to Coronelli being named theologian to the Duke and receiving a bigger commission, this one from Louis XIV of France. Coronelli moved to Paris for two years to construct the King’s huge globes, which are 12.5 feet in diameter and weigh 2 tons. The globes for the French King led to a craze for Coronelli’s work and he traveled Europe making globes for the ultra-elite. By 1705, he had returned to Venice. There, he founded the first geographical society, the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti and was named Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice. He died in 1718.