Stinemolen 1582

In 1582, the Dutch artist Jan van Stinemolen drew a panoramic view of Naples from the land, thus inverting the traditional view from the sea. This atmospheric drawing, which shows Naples from the unusual perspective of the northeast, combines high topographical detail with suggestive effects of landscape painting. By merging several perspectives into a very wide panorama, an 'impossible view' is created, which thematizes how the city is embedded in nature and its surrounding countryside. In the absence of a legend, the buildings are usually identified by comparison with other maps and written sources. 
Stinemolen’s panorama of Naples remains difficult to read even for those familiar with the Neapolitan topography and – although well known to scholars – has never been studied in depth. The large drawing, preserved in the Albertina in Vienna, has been digitized and is being continuously annotated by specialists affiliated with the Department Michalsky. The aim of the collaborative project is to topographically decipher this view, to interpret it as an independent work by a draftsman interested in cosmography, and to contextualize it with reference to the tradition of Netherlandish landscape painting and city views.