The Venetian Lagoon and landscapes around, »from the mouth of the Adige to that of the Piave«, 1818

Bernardo Combatti (Editor); Dionisio Moretti (Engraver): Mappa generale delle Lagune di Venezia. Dalla Foce dell' Adige a quella della Piave e Paesi Limitrofi. Prima incisione. Map with 24 segments, calligraphic title, 2 texts (»Observations«, »Explanations«) as well as a dedication by Combatti to the Austrian Field Marshal Martin von Dedovich, incorporating a coat of arms. With 3 graphic scales (ca. 1:58.800 in Italian miles, French leagues and kilometres). S. l. (Venice): Dionisio Moretti, s.a. [ca. 1818].

94,5:4,5 cm. 24 dissected segments, backed on brown and framed with black linen, mounted on one sheet. Engraving on white laid paper.

Detailed map of the Venetian Lagoon and surrounding landscapes, the first engraving by Dionisio Moretti after a cartographic work by Pierre Lessan for Napoleon (before 1814) and modified by Bernardo Combatti for the Austrian authorities in 1818.

Content: „La mappa, basata sul rilievo originale condotto dall’ Ing. Lessan, direttore delle Fabbriche Civili e dei Lavori Idraulici di Marina durante il Regno d’Italia di età napoleonica (1805-14), fu redatta da Bernardo Combatti e incisa da Dionisio Moretti attorno al 1818 (...) A testimonianza delle grandi modificazioni alla morfologia lagunare introdotte nel secolo successivo, si osservano la complessa rete di canali che caratterizzava la laguna prima delle grandi opere di scavo del Novecento e la barra di foce che separava la Bocca di Lido e il canale dei Tre Porti, oggi del tutto scomparsa.“ (Lipiello) The text »Observations« on the upper left is describing interventions carried out during the Napoleonic period by Lessan and other engineers, like Romanò and Prony.

Content: Handwritten title on one of the segments verso; map in parts slightly finger-stained and minimally foxy.

Content: Scarce in trade, no copy at auctions according to RBH. Unless other copies in institutional holdings present copy is not coloured, i.e. in its original state as published by Moretti. Coloured copies often depict realised or planned interventions in the years ahead, such as the Imperial Bridge (today the Liberty Bridge) intended to connect the railway from the mainland to Venice and various works to consolidate the shore between Lido and Malamocco.

Reference: Tiziana Lipiello et al.: Venezia and Suzhou. Water Cities along the Silk Roads. Catalogo della mostra. Venezia: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press 2022, p. 13 (with colour illustr.)