Gastaldi, Giacomo, ca. 1500-ca. 1565
Gastaldi was from Villafranca Piemonte, Italy. He was not only an Italian cartographer, but also an astronomer and engineer. Nothing is known about his life prior to 1539, but he was making maps in Venice by 1539, using his engineering background to produce engineering and waterway maps of Venice. His first map was published in 1544. Soon after his arrival in Venice, Gastaldi made the acquaintance of Giovanni Battista Ramusio, an influential geographic editor, who may have inspired him to devote himself to cartography. Geographical science was flourishing in Venice at this point, despite its decline in other Italian cities.
Gastaldi also produced a large number of general maps and even developed his own distinctive style of copper engraving by the 1540’s. Many other cartographers such as Camocio, Bertelli [hyperlink], Forlani, Ramusio, Cock, Luchini and Ortelius used Gastaldi’s as a source. The Yale Map Department has three maps by Gastaldi.”
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French, Josephine. Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers, Revised Edition E-J, Early World Press, Riverside, CT, 2001, p.142, 143.
Karrow, Robert W., Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and Their Maps, Chicago, 1993, p.89-93.