![]() ![]() In the upper margin, Blaeu depicted allegorical representations of the planets, each shown as a classical god and each orbiting the heavens on a rainbow ring within the etheric clouds. That decoration was, on this map, new and carried significant meaning. The projection ~ showing the world in two hemispheres ~ was also quite conventional it was favored in the seventeenth century not only because it gave a sense of the earth's sphericity but also because it allowed a great deal of room in the margins for decorative elements. Blaeu derived the geographical content from earlier maps, probably one of the world maps by Nicolaas Visscher (Shirley 2001, no. de Wit and Schenk & Valk.Joan Blaeu included this wonderfully ornate world map ~ Nova et accuratissima totius terrarum orbis tabula ("New and most accurate map of the whole world") ~ in the first volume of his eleven-volume Atlas Maior, published in Amsterdam in 1662. Some of the surviving plates were bought by F. stopped publishing maps bearing the Blaeu family name. While the business began to decline in the hands of his sons, the dominance of the Blaeu publishing house finally ended in 1703 when the V.O.C. Joan Blaeu died the following year, leaving the business to his three sons Willem (1635-1701), Pieter (1637-1706) and Joan II (1650-1712). In 1672 a fire destroyed the printing house and most of the printing plates. ![]() After Blaeu's death in 1638 his sons Joan and Cornelis continued the business and finished the Atlas Novus and started an even larger work, the Atlas Maior, which reached 12 volumes. His most famous work was the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus of 1635, which was published until 1655 in total six volumes. ![]() In 1633 he was appointed Hydrographer for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Later he started producing map and sea charts, including his first world map in 1605. 1599 he went to Amsterdam and founded a business as globe maker. He was trained from 1594 to 1596 by the famous danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born 1571 in Alkmaar. 255 Van der Krogt, P.: Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, 0001:2A. Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula auct: Guiljelmo Blaeuw. The map was replaced by a two hemispheres world map prepared by Willem's son Joan from 1658 onwards. This is the fourth state of the map from a French edition of Blaeu's Atlas, printed between 16. The map has decorative cartouches for the title, dedication and explanation, two spheres for the north and south poles, a compass roses and numerous ships and sea monsters. Along the bottom are seven vignettes showing the seven ancient wonders of the world: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus over the harbour at Rhodos, the Pyramids, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus at Caria, the Temple of Diane, the Statue of Jupiter, and the conical lighthouse of Alexandria. Down the sides are, on the left, four panels illustrating the elements (Fire, Water, Air and Earth), and on the right, the four seasons. Along the top are allegorical of the sun and the moon and the known five planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The most striking characteristic are the superb border decorations. The engraver Josua van den Ende signed in the lower right corner. The map has been expertly reduced from the Blaeu's large world map of 1605. celebrated as one of the supreme examples of the map maker's art. 255:Ĭlassic single-sheet world map on Mercator's projection. Shirley describes this world map in The Mapping of the World, No. From the most expensive book published in the 17th century, an eleven-volume atlas containing 593 hand-coloured maps. Willem Blaeu's world map with the decorative panels helped establish an iconography in the popular imagination which endures to this days. This map represents the apogee of seventeenth century Dutch cartography. Perhaps the finest world map ever printed. One of the Most Famous World Maps of Dutch Cartography with Stunning Old Colours. ![]()
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