The first and only printed padron real (pattern chart) officially endorsed and published by the Casa de la Contratación - the body which oversaw Spanish interests in the New World from the 16th to the 19th century - and the first instance of a cosmographer obtaining an official licence from the Contratación for printing a chart. One of only three known examples, and the only one in private hands.

The chart

The chart is the work of Sebastian De Ruesta, who was Cosmographer to the Casa de Contratación from 1653 until 1669, responsible for the production of all Spanish cartographic output dealing with the Americas and the Philippines.

The chart depicts the Northern Atlantic: to the right the western coastlines of Britain, Ireland, France and Spain, together with the northwest coast of Africa, to the left side the whole of the Eastern Seaboard is marked, as is Gulf of Mexico, and the north of South America down to the north coast of modern-day Brazil.

Six cartouches spread around the periphery contain the title, dedication, the royal licence, and three scale bars. Above the lower right scale bar, a space is provided for the chart owner to write their name. The work is dedicated to Don Pdero Nino de Gusman, President of the Contratación, between 15 November 1654 and 19 December 1662.

The chart is, in essence, a large portolan, and bears all the hallmarks of the Spanish School: the rhumb lines (the lines of compass bearing between any two points) which criss-cross the chart emanate from a series of 32 compass roses that surround a larger central compass rose. The rhumb lines are colour coded: black engraved lines for the eight primary cardinal points, the eight between them green, and the remaining sixteen red. The central compass rose has a series of numbers along each rhumb line indicating the distance the pilot would have to travel along the line in order to change one degree of latitude; this was usually placed in the accompanying pilot books, or rutters and is rarely seen on the surviving charts.

As well as rhumb lines, the chart bears graduated lines for both latitude and longitude, together with lines marking the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer, and the Prime Meridrian, which passes through the Island of Tenerife. The righthand latitude scale also marks the Line of Demarcation, that divided the world into Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence.

As with portolans of the Mediterranean, place names are written at right angles to the coastline, with the landmass's internal geography left blank; all the islands are named, as are the most important capes and rivers. Although the land is devoid of geographical information, it does contain fine depictions of native animals including: bears, jaguars, and bison to North America; with monkeys, and erroneously a camel to South America. To the sea, as well as the obligatory sea monsters, two Spanish galleons sail to and from the New World; remarkably these ships are not mere decoration as both are marked on their correct latitudes. Sea hazards such as low-lying rocks are marked by a cross, with sand banks marked by a series of small dashes.

Ruesta, in homage to the work of earlier Spanish chartmakers such as Diogo Ribeiro, adorns the chart with navigational instruments including: a mariner's astrolabe, globe, almanac, dividers, armillary sphere, ship's compass, a quadrant, cross-staff, plumb line, and an hourglass. Both the mariner's astrolabe and the quadrant bear the date 1654.

The chart's cartography

As one would expect of a chart based on Spanish material, the work marks a significant step forward in the delineation of South America, the Gulf of Mexico, and Florida; much of the cartography would not be improved on until well into the eighteenth century.

The bay formed at the mouth of the Rio del Espirito Santo – possibly the Mississippi River – is well drawn and marked 'Marpecuena'. To the east of the bay there is a pronounced cape which juts out into the Gulf of Mexico, forming a small gulf with the west coast of Florida; much of the Eastern Seaboard's south-eastern coast is greatly improved, and is generously defined as being part of England's Virginia, which extends as far down as 'B. de S. Mateo'.

If the southern areas of the chart show significant improvement over other printed charts, the northeast, especially between 'B. d S Christobal (Delaware Bay) and R Maurico (Hudson River) are less well defined; although Ruesta has updated Newfoundland to include the Avalon Peninsula.

History of the Casa Contratacion

The Casa de la Contratación (House of Trade), founded in 1503 in Seville, was given jurisdiction over everything related to the Indies, whether trade, travel, or colonisation. The Contratación was then subject of the Royal court, with the entire enterprise put under the authority of the Council of the Indies after its formation in 1523.

The production and certification of charts for use aboard Spanish vessels sailing to the Indies was one of the chief functions of the Contratación. It was responsible for the production and updating of the padron real (pattern chart), on which all other charts (the padron ordinario) were to be based.

These manuscript charts were drawn by the Contratacion's cosmographers, compiled from the latest reports from the pilots sailing to and from the New World. During the sixteenth century a board was commissioned consisting of cosmographers, the pilot major (the chief pilot of the Contratación), and working navigators. Their job was to certify the charts, and licence them for production and sale to ships heading to the Indies.

In theory, the padron real was to be updated on a regular basis, and new charts with the updated information issued to the Spanish sailors. However, in practice, arguments between the cosmographers, pilots, and navigators, on what new information to include meant that revision was piecemeal and irregular.

This had huge practical implications for sailors. As it was illegal to use charts that were not based on the padron real, if new more accurate information became available, the ships' pilot would be breaking the law if they included it on the charts they carried to sea. This led to perverse cases of pilots carrying two sets of charts onboard ship, one to show to the Contratación's inspectors, and another set for navigation! By the seventeenth century the problem had become so bad that many Spanish sailors were using charts printed in Amsterdam by the likes of Willem Blaeu and Abraham Goos.

Production of De Ruesta's Carta Nautica

When Sebastian De Ruesta became Chief Cosmographer to the Contratación, in 1653, he immediately set out to produce a new padron real. By 1655, the chart, engraved on two copper plates, was ready to put before the Council for approval.
In his petition to the council, Sebastian set out his reasons for engraving the padron:

"[Spanish] pilots were unable to find enough manuscript charts to sail to the Indies and therefore were forced to use foreign charts which were full of errors and banned by the Spanish authorities, such as those produced in Antwerp and Amsterdam".

The printing of the padron real was a huge step for the Contratacion to take, as up to this point Spanish chart production had been, due to issues of secrecy, exclusively manuscript. Although manuscript charts had, to a certain extent kept sensitive cartographic information out of the hands of hostile foreign powers, it had led to – as Sebastian states – a scarcity of available charts. This coupled with the fact that manuscript charts were prone to copying errors, and the padron real was so rarely updated, had forced Spanish navigators to acquire foreign charts.
However confident Sebastian was in the accuracy and efficacy of his chart, he knew it would meet significant opposition from one member of the committee, his brother Francisco.

A Fraternal Spat

As any parent knows, one of the best ways to sew discord between their children is to confiscate one siblings' toy and hand it to the other to play with. This is, in essence, exactly what the Contratación did on Sebastian's appointment. An official order survives, dated 23rd January 1653, granting Sebastian permission:

"to be in charge of the official padrones and instruments previously held by his brother Francisco, pilot major".

This obvious snub, together with reports that Francisco was working on his own chart, lead to a complete breakdown of relations between the two brothers. Francisco's animus towards Sebastián was so strong that when, in 1655, Sebastian put his chart before the council for examination and correction, he specifically asked for his brother to be excluded from the deliberations, as he had a "clear aversion" to him. The council agreed and without any input from Francisco, the chart was approved with minor corrections, on 30th April 1655.
When Francisco found out, he wrote to the council, on the 19th May, with some strongly worded objections: not only was his brother not qualified for the task; the modification of the padrón real needed royal approval; Sebastián had already engraved a chart that says that it was approved by the chief pilot (i.e. Francisco) which was not true; and finally, that the chart contained a longitude mistake that made it extremely confusing for navigation and therefore invalid. He ended his complaint by saying that "the first chart printed in Spain will be bad", other nations knew the practice of engraving much better; and that "this chart will cause Spain's embarrassment in Europe" and therefore "should not be distributed'.

The Board clearly took Sebastián's side, responding that the errors were not significant and that it was "inconceivable that someone (Francisco) who had never navigated to those places had something to say against the modifications made by pilots who had been navigating them for many years".

At the beginning of 1656 the chart was finally approved by the Contratación and Council of the Indies for printing. It was agreed that the chart would be printed on parchment. The first two copies on parchment were to be signed, kept and used as padrones reales at the Contratación while the following copies were to be taken and officially stamped there.

On the 9 March of 1656, the two printed charts – in addition to the original designs and corrections- were handed in. One remained as the official padron in the Contratacion, the other one was framed and taken to the Universidad de Mareantes of Seville.

Sebastian was then handed back the copper plates and given permission to print and sell the charts to Spanish navigators. When Sebastian died in 1669, the plates were given to his brother Francisco, and on his death in 1673, the chart was seized by the Contratación.

The chart's subsequent history is unfortunately less well documented, but one can reasonably infer from the three extant examples that the chart was in active use up until the end of the seventeenth century.

By 1701, the chart was suitably obscure that it's authorship had been attributed to his brother Francisco. Correspondence between the Contratacion and the Council of the Indies, for the year 1702, states erroneously, that the chart was the work of Francisco, and engraved by Sebastian. Some sources have suggested that this confusion implies that another chart had been produced by Francisco which is now lost, although there is no evidence to substantiate this claim

Conclusion

Although Sebastian's chart was evidently a success, and would appear to have been in use, and regularly amended, up until the end of the seventeenth century; he failed to turn subsequent padrones reales and its progeny the padron ordinario into engraved printed works. The Spanish soon returned to the production of manuscript charts, the Contratación being fearful that they would lose control of their padrones, by being unofficially reprinted.

Rarity

Before the 1990s De Ruesta'a chart was only known in a contemporary Dutch manuscript copy housed in the British Library (Sloane MS 5027A.arts. 25-9, 41-9). The manuscript was known to be in the possession of the Blaeu family in 1670, and again in 1680, where it was used to aid Dutch West India Company shipping. In 1710-11 it was acquired by the antiquarian Hans Sloane, and upon his death would form part of the founding of the British Museum.

When carrying out research for his cartobibliography, Philip Burden discovered a printed example on vellum in the British Library; catalogued under Manuel Baretto, cosmographer to the Contratación between 1680-1709, whose name has been crudely added to the chart. To this we can add a further two examples: one housed in the Gilcrease Museum, University of Tulsa; and the present example. Each of the extant examples is in different state, as follows:

State 1: before 1656 - The Gilcrease Museum, University of Tulsa

The chart was most likely printed before it was ratified by the Contratacion. The lower left cartouche, which contains scale bars for different degrees of latitude is blank (making it impractical for navigation) and the left-hand latitude scale has not been engraved. The word 'dada', the last word in the dedication cartouche is absent here (it occurs on both the other extant examples). The word 'dada' refers to the chart itself, and suggests that the chart was not just dedicated to Guzman but given to him. If this is so, then it would add credence to the argument that the chart was printed before its official ratification by the Contratación and the Council of the Indies, when two copies of the chart were deposited with them.

State 2: 1656-1670, private collection

A second latitude scale has been engraved to the left of the chart, and the latitude scale bar has been engraved. The only change to the cartography is the naming of a cape and a group of rocks off the Spanish coast. The word 'dada' has been added to the dedication, and the 'de' has been changed to 'del' in the ownership cartouche.

State 3: after 1680, The British Library

Sebastian De Ruesta's name, in the title and the dedication, has been crudely erased and replaced by Manuel Barreto, cosmographer to the Contratacion between 1680 and 1709. Both plates have been re-engraved; Florida and much of the Eastern Seaboard are now surrounded by large sandbanks.

Biography

Ruesta, Sebastián de, born in Barbastro (Huesca) – died in Seville, 1669. Architect and Cosmographer at the Casa de la Contratación de Indias.

Sebastián de Ruesta, an Architect from Aragón graduated as a Master of Wood Architecture in the city of Zaragoza. He was the son of Francisco de Ruesta, Infantry Captain, Chief Pilot of the 'Carrera de las Indias', Philosopher and Mathematics Professor. He might have received early mathematical training from his father which was probably useful in his career as an Architect and later on as a Cosmographer at the Casa de la Contratación.

His first relevant projects were collaborations with other artists, such as the funerary monument built for Prince Baltasar Carlos (1644-1646) in Zaragoza as well as the altarpiece of the Basílica de San Lorenzo in Huesca (1648).
By 1646, Sebastián had moved to Madrid where he married Isabel Jut y Correa. His father's position in Seville was a key factor in his appointment as the Chief Master of the Alcázares Reales by Luis Mendez de Haro y Guzmán, Marquis of Carpio and Governor of Seville on 30 March 1650. His role was primarily focused on the maintenance and conservation of the building.

In 1653, he was appointed Cosmographer and Mathematical Instrument Maker at the Casa de la Contratación by King Philip IV. Three years later, he was granted permission to print a nautical chart he had produced.

Between 1658 and 1659, he worked for the Spanish Army in the war against Portugal, achieving the rank of Captain. During his time in Seville, Ruesta built a good reputation as an Architect. He was commissioned for multiple projects, such as the façade of the Capilla del Sagrario in 1655, on which he worked with Architect Pedro Sanchez de Falconete and Engineer Martín Rodriguez de Castro. He completed a design proposal for the upper part of the dome of the former chapel in 1661. He had a close relationship with Sculptor and Altarpiece Maker, Francisco de Rubas, with whom he worked on several projects. He had a broad artistic career and by the end of his life, he had a vast library – including fifty books on Architecture - in his possession.

He died on 28 November 1669 and was buried in one of crypts of the church of the Convento del Espíritu Santo de Clérigos Menores, which he had designed.

Appendix 1

Translation of text on the chart

Title cartouche (Lower left)

Nautical Chart of the Sea, Coasts and Isles of the West Indies
Amended by Sebastián de Ruesta, born in the city of Zaragoza, cosmographer and mathematical instrument maker by (appointment) of His Majesty at the Casa de la Contratación of the city of Seville.

Adjusted from different documents and reports from pilots with knowledge of these coasts.

Sold at Cuarto del Ministerio Mayor of the Alcázares Reales with other instruments.

Dedicatory cartouche (Upper left)

To His Excellency

Don Luis Mendez de Haro y Guzmán, Marquis of Carpio, Count-Duke of Olivares, Count of Morente, Marquis of Eliche, Lord of the municipality of Sorbas and the town of Loeches, Perpetual Governor of the city of Moxacar and of the Alcazares Reales of the city of Cordoba, Chief Constable of the Holy Inquisition of the same city, Perpetual Governor of the Alcazares Reales y Atarazañas of the city of Seville, Great Chancellor of the Indies and Perpetual Registrar of those, High Commander of the Order of Alcántara, Gentilhombre and Equerry of His Majesty.
Given

By your most humble servant,

Sebastián de Ruesta

Approved by His Majesty's Chief Pilot of the Carrera de las Indias and practical pilots.

Royal Licence cartouche (righthand side)

With the licence of the Royal Council of the Indies, his president being His Excellency Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, Count of Peñaranda, Commander of the Ávito of Alcántara, Gentilhombre of the Cámara of His Majesty and councillor of state and war affairs.

Examined and corrected by the president and board of judges of the Casa de la Contratación of Seville, its president being Don Pedro Niño de Guzmán, Count of Villaumbrosa y Castronuevo, Marquis of Quintana, Assistant to the Council of Castille and Marquis of Campo Geri, of the same city…

Cartouche 4 (lower right)

Esta carta es del…/Esta carta es de…

This chart belongs to

Appendix 2

List of printed maps based on charts produced by the Contratacion 1503-1790.

1) Chart of the New World in De orbe novo by Pedro Mártyr of Anglería. Seville, 1511.
2) A Venetian edition of the former work includes a similar chart by 'a pilot of His Majesty from Seville, 1520'.
3) World Map by Sebastian Caboto, printed in Amberes in 1544. Now at the National Library in Paris.
4) Chart of the New World in Arte de Navegar de Pedro de Medina, Valladolid, 1545.
5) Map of Central and South America by Jeronimo de Chaves, in Comentarios al Tractado de Joannes de Sacrobosco, Seville, 1545.
6) Nautical Chart of the New World in Breve compendio de la sphera by Martin Cortes, Seville, 1551.
7) Universal Chart in La Crónica del Peru by Pedro Cieza de Leon, Amberes, 1554.
8) Universal chart in Dos Libros de Cosmographia by Jerónimo Girava, Milán, 1556.
9) Map of America, in Chronographia by Jeronimo Chaves, Seville, 1561.
10) Map by Diego Gutierrez in Teatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ortelius 1584.
11) Jerónimo de Chaves: American Descripsit, idem.
12) Jerónimo de Chaves: La Florida. Same, idem.
13) Jerónimo de Chaves: Mar Pacifico, idem, 1595.
14) Map of the region of Quito in Milicia… by Bernardo de Vargas Machuca, Madrid, 1599.
15) Universal Chart by Andrés García Céspedes in Regimiento de Navegación, Madrid, 1606.
16) 1599. World map by Hernando de Solís in Relaciones…by Juan Botero Benes, Valladolid, 1603.
17) Universal chart of America in Historia General…by Antonio de Herrera, Madrid, 1601-1610.
18) 1654. Sebastián de Ruesta, Carta universal.