Amsterdam – Caspar Merian, 1659

VIEW OF 17TH CENTURY AMSTERDAM 

“Amsterdam“, engraving printed from two copperplates, made around 1650, published in Frankfurt am Main by Caspar Merian in 1659. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 19.5 × 70.5 cm.

From the Topographia Germaniae Inferioris. From left to right one can distinguish the Rijzenhoofd, the Antoniespoort, the West India warehouse, the Montelsbaanstoren, Zuiderkerk tower, Munttoren, and Schreierstoren, the Walloon Church, Sint-Olofskapel,(Chapel of St. Olaf), the Old Church, the Nieuwezijds Kapel, the stock exchange, the Waag, the old Town Hall with its pointed tower, the Nieuwe Kerk with its completed tower, the Jan Rodenpoort tower, Haringpakkers tower, and Wester tower, the Noorderkerk, the Bickers tower, and the Haarlemmerpoort. The city’s grain warehouses are also depicted; the old Town Hall had not yet burned down (1652).

Topographia Germaniae Inferioris was part of the Topographia Germaniae, the most important work of engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593–1650). He published this monumental work together with Martin Zeiler (1589–1661) of Ulm, who was responsible for the text. The work contains around 2,000 illustrations and plans of towns, monasteries, and castles and is considered one of the most significant achievements in the field of topographical illustration.

Merian had begun in 1642 with the publication of a survey of town views, landscapes, and maps, for which he had been collecting drawings for decades.

Up to 1688 the series was expanded with further descriptions of European regions, ultimately reaching 30 volumes with a total of 92 maps and 2,142 town views, making it one of the largest publications of its time.

The first volumes were engraved and published by Matthäus Merian himself. Later, much of the engraving work was commissioned from several prominent engravers of the day, while his sons Matthäus the Younger and Caspar took over the publishing activities.

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