VIEW OF AMSTERDAM IN THE GOLDEN AGE "Amsterdam", engraving printed from two copper plates, made c. 1650, published in Frankfurt a.M. by Caspar Merian in 1659. Later hand-coloured. Dimensions: 19,5 x 70,5 cm. From the Topographia Germaniae Inferioris. Distinguished from left to right are the Rijzenhoofd, the Antoniespoort, the West-Indies warehouse, the Montelbaans-, Zuiderks-, Munt-, and Schreierstoren towers, the Waalse Kerk, the Sint-Olofskapel, the Oude Kerk, the Nieuwezijds Kapel, the Stock Exchange, the Waag, the old City Hall with its pointed tower, the Nieuwe Kerk with its completed tower, the Jan Rodenpoorts, Haringpakkers and Westertorens towers, the Noorderkerk, the Bickerstorentje and the Haarlemmerpoort. The city's grain warehouses appear on it; the old town hall has not yet burned down (1652). Topographia Germaniae Inferioris was part of Topographia Germaniae, the most important work of copper engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593 - 1650). He published this work together with Martin Zeiler (1589-1661) from Ulm, who was responsible for the text. The work contains about 2,000 pictures and maps of cities, monasteries and castles and is considered one of the most important works in the field of geographical representations. Merian had started in 1642 with the publication of a survey work of townscapes, pictures of landscapes and maps for which he had been collecting drawings for decades. Until 1688 the series was expanded with further descriptions of European regions, eventually reaching 30 volumes with a total of 92 maps and 2142 townscapes, making it one of the largest published books of its time. The first volumes were engraved and published by Matthäus Merian himself. Later the engraving work was contracted out to a large number of engravers who were famous at the time, and his sons Matthew the Younger and Caspar took over the publishing work. Price: Euro 1.250,-
