Castera Ignacio (1 results)

A magnificent and early wall map of Mexico City Castera, Ignacio de; Lopez, Tomas. Plano geometrico de la Imperial Noble y Leal Ciudad de Mexico, teniendo por extreme la zanxa y garitas del resguardo de la Real Aduana. 1785. Madrid. Don Tomas Lopez, Geógrafo de los Dominios de S.M. 860 mm x 1100 mm. Engraved map, printed on four sheets, joined, numbered key to principal buildings in upper left corner below a title cartouche decorated with cornucopia with ornate moldings, with the coat of arms of the Count of Tepa below. Arguably amongst the most magnificent maps of Mexico City, containing cartographical information of privileged access, and to our knowledge, the first Spanish printed map of such dimensions of the Viceroyalty´s Capital City. Tomas Lopez de Vargas Machuca (1731-1802) was a Spanish publisher and the leading cartographer of the age. He studied with Jean-Baptiste Bouguignon d'Anville in Paris, before returning to his native Madrid in 1760, when he established the only independent cartographic publishing house in Spain in 1760. He began making maps for the Bourbon kings and became Royal Geographer to King Carlos III in 1780. He was even authorised to create a geographic agency for the secretary of state in 1795. Lopez´s map follows the one made by Ignacio de Castera Obiedo y Peralta (Mexico 1750-1811), a Mexican architect and cartographer. Castera gained the favour of Archibishop Nuñez Haro de Peralta and Viceroy Guemes Pacheco, which allowed him to participate in the construction of important buildings in the City of Mexico. Lopez had already published a 1758 map of Mexico City, a plain orthogonal plan of the type created by military engineers. His work was typical of late eighteenth century Spanish attempts to assert control of their empire through cartography. Castera´s maps, however, appear to have never been published, until this edition, by Lopez. Cartographically, it resembles greatly the "Plano Ignografico de la Nobilisima Ciudad de Mexico, hecho en el año 1776 por D. Ignacio Castera, Mro. De Arquitectura y Agrimensor de tierras, aguas y minas por S. M. y aumentado en el de 1778", thus, we are made aware of at least two maps made within 1776 and 1778 (El criollo en su reflejo, Fomento Cultura Grupo Salinas, pp. 46). Castera´s map reflects the political, social and urban modifications suffered by the city of Mexico as a result of the reforms carried out by the Borbon kings in the second half of the 18th century. In this sense, it is the first printed map to show "modern" Mexico. A full description is available upon request.