Abraham Cresques

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Abraham Cresques
Majorca
Died1387
Other namesEliça, son of Rabbi Abraham
Occupationcartographer
Known forCatalan Atlas

Abraham Cresques (Catalan pronunciation:

Majorca, then part of the Crown of Aragon. In collaboration with his son, Jehuda Cresques, Cresques is credited with the authorship of the celebrated Catalan Atlas
of 1375.

Personal life

A Majorcan Jew, Cresques was a master map-maker and builder of clocks, compasses, and other nautical instruments. He was a leading member of the Majorcan cartographic school.[1]

Abraham Cresques's real name was Eliça (a.k.a. Cresques) son of Rabbi Abraham, son of Rabbi Benaviste, son of Rabbi Eliça. Eliça was the name he would have received when he came of age but known as Cresques of Abraham (Cresques being his personal name, Eliça his religious name, Abraham his

patronym), but the order is often flipped in most subsequent literature. His son, Jehuda Cresques
, was also a notable cartographer.

The Catalan Atlas

Main article: Catalan Atlas
The 8 page montage of the Catalan Atlas

In 1375, Cresques and his son Jehuda received an assignment from Prince John of Aragon, the future

portolan charts to cover the East and the West, and everything that, from the Strait [of Gibraltar
] leads to the West.

For this job, Cresques and Jehuda were paid 150 Aragonese golden florins, and 60 Mallorcan pounds, respectively, as it is stated in 14th-century documents from the Prince and his father

Palma
.

Works attributed to Cresques

The

portolan charts, one fragment of a mappa mundi
), are unsigned and undated, and their date of composition estimated sometime between 1375 and 1400.

According to Campbell, of the four portolan charts attributed the Cresques atelier, the Naples and Paris charts are more ornate than the other two, with the Paris chart (c. 1400) in particular seeming closest to the features of the Catalan Atlas (c. 1375).[3] However, attribution to the Cresques workshop is only tentative. As Campbell notes, "That this group of charts is closely related is clear. But it is hard to see, from the colour analysis alone, evidence to confirm that these four charts were the product of supervised work in a single atelier."[3]

Cresques also produced an illuminated Bible with an annexed Hebrew-Catalan dictionary, known as the Farhi Bible.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4985-9014-3
    .
  2. ^ Pujades i Bataller, Ramon J. (2007). Les cartes portolanes: la representació medieval d'una mar solcada. Barcelona. p. 63.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ a b c Campbell, T. (7 March 2011). "Anonymous works and the question of their attribution to individual chartmakers or to their supposed workshops". Map History. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  4. ^ (MS Esp 30)
  5. ^ (It.IV,1912)

External links

Bibliography

  • Kogman-Appel, Katrin (2020). Catalan maps and Jewish books : the intellectual profile of Elisha Ben Abraham Cresq̧ues (1325-1387). Turnhout: Brepols.
    ISBN 978-2-503-58548-2
    .
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