With this frontispiece, Ortelius symbolically presents his atlas as a stage upon which readers could act out imaginary voyages to distant lands using the maps and the descriptive text in the book. The architecture of the “stage” here shows a female embodiment of Europe, ruling the world atop an entablature supported by Asia on the left holding her spices, and Africa on the right, radiating with the power of the sun. Below these more “civilized” figures lies a nude and “barbaric” America, holding the head of a European, near a bust of Magellanica representing the southern part of South America. These female figures symbolize perceived identities, stereotypes and fears of both the familiar parts of the world and the unknown.
IIIF Manifest