0338 La veduta di Napoli di Jan van Stinemolen: esperienza visiva e suggestioni letterarie

Abstract

This essay examines Jan van Stinemolen's view of Naples by moving beyond the traditional comparison with historical cartography. Unlike the maps by Du Perac/Lafréry (1566) and Baratta (1627), which were conceived with a primarily topographical intent, Stinemolen's drawing is interpreted as a visual device evoking in the viewer the experience of a panoramic vista. Within this framework, several features previously regarded as distortions or omissions in the city's depiction – such as the absence of the upper Decumanus as well as the duplication or displacement of certain buildings – can be reconsidered. The parallel with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century published descriptions of Naples suggests alternative modes of engagement, prompting the viewer to enter imaginatively into the urban space. The adoption of multiple viewpoints is linked to the setting on the northern hills, which shaped the city into a kind of "theatre" – a recurrent topos in early modern accounts of Naples – without privileging a single vantage point but rather combining plausible views into a unified portrait, in line with Stinemolen's visual rhetoric and with the literary renown of the city in the sixteenth century.