Atlas Maritime

Acquired From: Leen Helmink

Colouring: Coloured

Condition: Very Good

Confirmed: Yes

Date Acquired: 30/11/2015

Description: Published in Amsterdam by Pierre Mortier, this frontispiece forms part of his broader ambition to establish a French-language cartographic publishing enterprise capable of rivaling the great atlas productions of Paris and Amsterdam. Having trained in Paris in the early 1680s, Mortier was uniquely positioned to combine French intellectual cartography with the technical excellence of Dutch engraving and printing. By 1690, he had secured exclusive privileges to publish and distribute French geographical works in the Dutch Republic, enabling the production of some of the most ambitious and visually assertive atlases of the early eighteenth century.nEngraved by Romeyn de Hooghe and issued in Amsterdam in 1693, the print served as the title page to Atlas Maritimus, an atlas of nine sea charts prepared for the use of William III, King of Great Britain. Published shortly after Williams accession to the English throne in 1688, the atlas reflects the political and maritime aspirations of the Anglo-Dutch alliance.nThe engraving is rich in symbolic content and demonstrates de Hooghes mastery of Baroque allegory. At the centre, the royal arms of Great Britain are suspended between monumental columns symbolising strength and stability, while to the left the kings enemiesimplicitly the Frenchflee in disarray, an unmistakable reference to Williams military and naval supremacy.nThe lower portion of the composition is animated by mythological and allegorical figures, accompanied by ten lines of Latin verse invoking the voyages of Aeneas, Ulysses, and the Argonauts, suggesting that their legendary journeys might have been safer had they possessed comparable navigational knowledge. The monsters Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, and the dangerous Syrtes off the African coast are evoked to stress the perilous nature of navigation without guidance.nIn the foreground, a helmeted female figure, possibly Britannia or a personification of Naval Power, points to a chartbook, symbolising command of the seas. With her other hand she restrains the Sirens and the marine monsters Scylla and Charybdis, aided by three putti, while snarling dogs in the foreground may allude to Scyllas monstrous form. Behind her stand allegorical figures of Astronomy and Navigation, and partially obscured behind the columns are elderly sages consulting an armillary sphere. Above them all, Atlas supports the celestial globe atop a rocky height.nThe frontispiece functions both as a celebration of maritime mastery and as a sophisticated propagandistic statement, linking classical heroism, scientific navigation, and modern state power through the visual language of the Baroque

Engraver: Romeyn de Hooghe

First published: Atlas Maritime Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, 1693

Mapmaker: Mortier, Pierre (1661-1711)

Price: 1,400

Primary Category: Titlepage

Purchase Reference: Ledger 2022. Inv. 2015-008

Shirley ID #: 71 Courtiers and Cannibals

Technique: Copper Engraving

This state: First