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Dutch and Flemish cartographers and their atlas works. He gives numerous
examples of cartouches and vignettes, decorated frames and parergas. With
time they became simplified and their decorativeness got lost.
3.3 Map contents and cartographic language
Contents of early maps
is often characterised by inconsistent selection of
the elements represented, i.e. from today's point of view there is poor-
quality generalization of the contents. Hierarchization is not consistent ei-
ther (Bláha 2003). Apart from less transparency and legibility this also
leads to the already mentioned graphical chaos. Using these criteria early
maps are usually not evaluated in a positive way. We can assume that il-
lustrations in the map field did not always serve only to simply fill the
empty spaces, as is mentioned above, but they also had an informative
function (similarly to today's maps for children and youth), as well as con-
tributed to the overall style of the map (see below). The map field image
was therefore more harmonious.
B. Veverka et al. (Veverka et al 2009) has recently dealt with the
carto-
graphic language
of early maps (semiotic analysis) and its evolution. The
interest is placed especially on the means of expression used, their rendi-
tion (colour, thickness of line elements) and meaning (
Figure 9
). These
studies and others show that gradually there was conventionalization and
schematization of the cartographic language. This led to early maps gradu-
ally losing their illustrative and artistic character. The representation of
georelief strongly influences the aesthetic impression of the map: hill
method, silting, hachure, contour lines (Imhof 2007, or Pravda 2005, deal
with this issue in more detail). These changes led to significant changes in
the appearance of the map image, which is usually related to aesthetic as-
sessment with different results. K. Kuchař (1974) even mentions the effi-
ciency of the isoline method, from which we can assume that he was con-
sidering different aesthetic impact even in relation to different
methods of
thematic cartography
.
The
aesthetic aspects of the use of colours
in early maps could constitute a
separate chapter. In his lecture K. Kuchař (ibid.) speaks primarily of the
optical weight of a colour (khaki × yellow), for example in relation with
the filling of the map's edges (increase in the strength of the framing).
Decorative aspects of colours do not necessarily have to be related to the
aesthetic function, decoration as such can carry information (similarly as
