Map of Flanders & part of Zeeland

This remarkable, map with original hand-coloring is is Jan Blaeu’s Le Theatre du Monde ou Nouvel Atlas Contenant, Les Chartes et Descriptions de tous les Pais de la Terre Mis en lumiere. This is from the first French edition of Blaeu’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and was published in 1635.

The Blaeus’s atlases had extremely high production standards. The quality of the engraving, the paper, and colouring are of the highest quality. The maps are embellished in the Baroque style.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638), Jan’s father, founded the famous Blaeu cartographic firm in Amsterdam. He studied astronomy and science under Tycho Brahe. He established a globe and instrument making business in 1599 which soon expanded into cartography publishing. It became one of the most important publishing firms in the world that was also later run by his sons Cornelis and Jan (1596-1673). Their maps are noted for their fine engraving process, coloring, and design and are often referred to as “the highest expression of Dutch cartographical art.”