Delft – Joan Blaeu, 1649

THE CITY OF DELFT

“Delfi Batavorum vernacule Delft” [Delft of the Batavians, commonly known as: Delft], copper engraving published in Amsterdam by Joan Blaeu in 1649. Coloured by a later hand. Verso: description of Delft in Latin. Size (print): 37.7 × 48.5 cm.

Until the 17th century, Delft was one of the major cities of Holland. Around 1400 the city had about 6,500 inhabitants, making it the third largest after Dordrecht (8,000) and Haarlem (7,000). By 1560, Amsterdam had grown to 28,000 inhabitants and had become the largest city, followed by Delft, Leiden, and Haarlem, each with about 14,000 inhabitants.

In the 17th century, Delft entered a new period of prosperity. A chamber of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was established there. Three times a year, the people of Delft sent a fleet to the East, importing spices, Chinese porcelain, and other luxury goods. The import of Chinese porcelain gave rise to the tradition of Delftware — the famous blue and white earthenware — and a flourishing ceramics industry.

During the Eighty Years’ War, Delft became a center of resistance against the Spaniards, after several cities and regions managed to free themselves from Spanish rule in the 1570s. Prince William of Orange took up residence in Delft for a time, in the former St. Agatha convent, which has since been known as the Prinsenhof. After King Philip II declared William of Orange an outlaw, he was assassinated there in 1584 by Balthasar Gerard.

William of Orange was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) in Delft, clearly visible on the map at the market square. Since then, 45 other members of the House of Orange and the House of Orange-Nassau have been interred in the royal crypt.

This city plan was published after the Peace of Münster in 1648 as part of Joan Blaeu’s great town book of the Netherlands, Novum Ac Magnum Theatrum Urbium Belgicae Liberae Ac Foederatae.

The Amsterdam cartographer and publisher Joan Blaeu aimed to fulfill the ambitions of Abraham Ortelius — famed for publishing the first modern atlas in 1570 — and of Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg — known for their Civitates Orbis Terrarum, published around 1600 — by adding comprehensive town books to his multi-volume world atlas.

The Town Book of the United Netherlands appeared in a Latin edition in 1649 and in Dutch in 1652. Some of the maps included were already published in earlier works — for example, 21 plates had appeared in Marcus Boxhorn’s Theatrum Hollandiae (1632) — while others were newly engraved specifically for Blaeu’s Town Book.

Price: Euro 1.750,-