Taddeo Crivelli

Taddeo Crivelli was a member of the Ferrara School and was best known for his manuscript illuminations and engravings.

Crivelli was famed for his use of vivid colour and elaborate ornamentation. He operated a studio and many influential patrons. Throughout his career, Crivelli produced both cartographic and religious commissions such as Duke Borso d’Este’s bible in 1455.

In 1471, Crivelli moved to Bologna where he began producing atlases and nautical charts, such as the maps in the 1477 edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’. The publication contains twenty-six copperplate prints and was the first book to use engraved maps rather than woodcuts. In 1480, Crivelli published his final world map using a Ptolemaic projection and round-cheeked windheads.