L’arte del rappresentare geografico. Un confronto tra cartografia e pittura nel Secolo d’oro dei Paesi Bassi

"The article aims at analysing the cartography in the Netherlands during the 17th century, starting from a comparison with the artistic production in the same period. Painting and cartography will be shown as results of the same economic, social and political context, deeply changed since the independence of the late 16th century. The contacts and interactions between the two areas of interest will be studied, in order to investigate the causes and peculiarities of the cartographic development occurred in the Netherlands in the 17th century, which was defined as an «happy industry» in the Golden Age. The article is based on Vermeer’s and other Dutch artists paintings, hosted in the exhibition Vermeer. Il Secolo d’Oro dell’arte olandese [Vermeer. The Golden Age of the Dutch Art]. In many of those artworks, the artists exemplary reproduced maps and globes, giving a clear idea of which role the geographical elements have had in the Dutch development and the article will try to explain why they were distributed that much."