Utrecht / Het Gooi – Willem Blaeu, 1635

THE LORDSHIP OF UTRECHT

“Ultrajectum Dominium.” Copper engraving published between 1635 and 1679 by Willem Blaeu. With original hand colouring. Size: 38 × 49.5 cm.

Willem Blaeu created this map based on a 1620 map by Balthasar Florisz. van Berckenrode. At that time, there were no country estates along the Vecht River or in ’s-Graveland yet. Still depicted are several monasteries along the Vecht that by then had already fallen into ruin.

This was the period when tow-canals (Dutch: trekvaarten) were dug between cities and existing waterways were adapted for towing boats. In 1599, the Amstel River from Amsterdam to Uithoorn was provided with a towpath, followed between 1626 and 1628 by sections of the Amsterdam-Utrecht route. Initially, tow-canals were built to link two cities, but as the 17th century progressed, more and more individual tow-canals were connected, creating vast canal networks.

From 1588 until the French period, the Lordship of Utrecht was one of the provinces of the Dutch Republic (Republic of the Seven United Netherlands). What the map does not show is that at the time of its publication, Utrecht was in the grip of a plague epidemic, which would only end in 1638. As much as 15 percent of Utrecht’s population would die from the disease.

Blaeu was driven by the ambition to create an atlas unlike anything the world had ever seen. Financial motives were secondary — the risks were simply too high. Rivalry with the publishing house of Janssonius and motives such as prestige and display were at least as important. Blaeu wanted to create something that, at the height of Amsterdam’s power, would astonish the civilized world. This ambition ultimately culminated in the magnificent Atlas Maior.

Price: Euro 650,- (incl. frame)