Acquired From: Leen Helmink
Colouring: Uncoloured
Condition: Good
Confirmed: No
Description: This engraving first appeared in the African section of Caert-Thresoor, the compact, Dutch atlas published in 1598 under the imprint of Barent Langenes and distributed through the Amsterdam publisher Cornelis Claesz. Designed as an affordable, portable alternative to large-format atlases, Caert-Thresoor brought together terrestrial, maritime, and cosmographical material for both scholarly and general audiences. nMost plates were engraved by Pieter van den Keere, including this example and View Record (#383), with additional contributions by Jodocus Hondius (View Record (#294), #295,View Record (#296)). The authorship of some maps, such as the East Indies plate (View Record (#388)), remains uncertain and may involve either engraver.nFollowing its initial publication, the atlas was expanded and standardised under Claeszs direction, developing into a multilingual series. A Latin edition appeared in 1600 as Tabularum geographicarum contractarum, with revised text by Petrus Bertius. The enlarged libri quinque edition of 1606, from which this illustration is taken, was followed by French and later German versions that extended the atlass reach well into the seventeenth century.nThe scene, engraved by van den Keere, depicts the Portuguese carrack Santiago wrecking on the reefs of Baixos de Iudia, a low coral atoll between Mozambique and Madagascar, during its 1585 voyage to the East Indies. The image blends a real account of a maritime disaster with dramatic, moralising elements: as the crew scramble onto the jagged rocks, they are attacked by exaggeratedly large lobsters, one seizing a sailor around the waist.nContemporary accounts suggest that the real event was even more perilous. Baixos de Iudia is largely submerged at high tide and offers almost no shelter to shipwrecked sailors. Only about fifty survivors are recorded as having reached Mozambique in a small tender. The site of the wreck was confirmed in 1977, when remains of the Santiago and part of its cargo of silver coins and trade goods was recovered.
Engraver: van den Keere, Pieter
First published: Caert-Thresoor, Middelburg: Barent Langenes, 1598
Mapmaker: Langenes, Barent (fl. 1598-1609)
Notes: Purchase details
Other states: Dutch, French, Latin, and German editions between 1598 and 1650
Primary Category: Prints & Related Material
Rarity: R1 Extremely rare – occasionally seen on the market
References: Peter van der Krogt, ed., Koemans Atlantes Neerlandici, vol. 3 (t Goy-Houten: HES & De Graaf, 1997), 376-381, no. 341:53.nGünter Schilder, Monumenta cartographica Neerlandica, vol. 7 (Canaletto, 2003), 458-459?
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: Petrus Bertius, Tabularum geographicarum contractarum libri quinque…, Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1606
Laisser un commentaire