Adina Sommer
Antique and Contemporary Art
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80797 München
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Adina Sommer`s Rare Antique Maps and Contemporary Art
Europae
| Article ID | EUX1690 |
| Artist | Ortelius (1527-1598) |
| Abraham Ortelius, (1527 - 1598) Antwerp, comes from an Augsburg family and was born in Antwerp, Spain, where he lived throughout his life. After thorough training, he joined the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1547 as a card painter. In 1554 he took over an antiquarian bookshop that mainly deals with the coloring, distribution and publishing of maps. Basically he is more of a publisher than a scholar. And so he also made the acquaintance of another great man of his time, Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594), who encouraged him to draw cards and to make maps of the most varied of countries. His first cartographic work of his own is a large 8-sheet map of the world that appears in Antwerp in 1564. This is followed by a two-sheet map of Egypt (1565) and another of Asia (1567). The great achievement of Ortelius, who was one of the most famous European cartographers of his time, and the enthusiastic reception of his theater, mark a decisive turning point in the history of the world map. The new path is mapped out with the Theatrum. For the general view of the world, the appearance of Ortelius-Theatrum is important insofar as it emphatically confirms that America is a completely independent continent, which is also not connected to the Asian mainland mass at its northern tip. Ortelius was the first to come up with the idea of producing a handy collection of reliable maps, all kept in the same format and only by the same author for each country. These sheets could also be bound into a book for easy storage and use. Mercator, who also realized the idea of a world atlas from 1569, persuaded his friend to publish the famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarrum. Ortelius collected, traveled, corresponded and negotiated for 10 years before he could have his work printed in the best European printing house (Plantijn / Amsterdam). In addition to technical difficulties, Ortelius had to submit to the political / religious conditions, since maps were also subject to strict scrutiny during the Inquisition. Biblical scenes are pleasant, portraits of outstanding Catholics are welcome, but not family coats of arms or other emblems that could be politically suspect. On May 20, 1570, his first edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first collection of maps in book form, was published, financed and edited by Gillis Hooftman, an Antwerp merchant, banker and shipowner. Atlases did not yet have this name at that time. This collection was published between 1570 and 1612 in 42 editions and in 7 languages: Latin, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, English and Italian. Unlike his professional colleagues, he clearly referenced the sources of his maps and texts. The work contains, among other things, an illustration of the world known until 1492 and was therefore already looking back at the time the map was created. | |
| Title | Europae |
| Year | ca. 1590 |
| Description | Map shows total Europe with all countries and its borders and a titel cartouche. |
| Especially the Greek culture, the Roman Empire and Christianity left their mark until today. In ancient times, the Roman Empire at the time of Augustus united for the first time the entire southern Europe together with the other coastal countries of the Mediterranean in one great empire. In the Roman Empire, the new religion of Christianity was able to spread rapidly. In the early Middle Ages, the Paderborn Epic declared the ruler of the Frankish Empire, Charlemagne, to be the "Father of Europe." The Middle Ages were marked, among other things, by competition between the new Roman emperor in the West and the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople, in the East, to whose two spheres of influence the later deepened division into a Western and Eastern Europe can be traced. Since the 15th century, European nations (especially Spain, Portugal, Russia, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) built colonial empires with large possessions on all other continents. Europe is the continent that has influenced the other continents the most, for example, through Christian missionary work, colonies, slave trade, exchange of goods and culture. n the 18th century, the Enlightenment movement set new directions and demanded tolerance, respect for human dignity, equality and freedom. In France, the French Revolution brought the bourgeoisie to power in 1789. In the early 19th century, half of Europe had to conform to the will of Napoleon, the French emperor who came to power after the revolutionary period, until he suffered a fiasco in Russia in 1812. The conservative victorious powers then tried to restore pre-revolutionary conditions at the Congress of Vienna, which succeeded only temporarily. Industrialization began in parts of Europe in the 18th century and rapidly changed the everyday lives of broad sections of the population. | |
| Place of Publication | Antwerp |
| Dimensions (cm) | 34,5 x 46 |
| Condition | Missing part at center perfectly replaced, map mounted |
| Coloring | original colored |
| Technique | Copper print |
Reproduction:
180.00 €
( A reproduction can be ordered individually on request. )