Double portrait G. Mercator & J. Hondius

by Jodocus Hondius Jr.

A unique double portrait

Detail

Date of first edition:  1613

Date of this map: 1613-1616

Dimensions (not including margins): 38,5 x 44 cm

Dimensions (including margins): 48 x 57 cm

Condition: Very good. Old colouring. Centre fold as published. Strong paper and wide margins.

Condition rating: A+

Verso: text in Latin, age-toning, signs of previous framing.

 

 

Item number:
55010
Region:
Portraits & Titlepages
Curiosities
Categories:
Recent Additions
Price (without VAT, possibly to be added): 2 650,00 (FYI +/- $2 941,50 / £2 358,50)
Unless otherwise specifically stated on this map page, we charge the following expedition costs in euro (unfortunatelly, gone up with Covid, but still too low in reality!): 
– Benelux: 40 euro
– Rest of Europe: 60 euro
– Rest of the World: 100 euro

In stock

Mercator and Hondius in a unique double portrait

Jodocus Hondius (right) died in 1612. His widow Coletta van den Keere (sister of the famous Petrus who made the Leo Belgicus) engraved this double portrait of Gerard Mercator and her husband. It appeared for the first time appeared in the “Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas sive cosmographicae the Meditations Fabrica Mundi et fabricate figura” atlas of 1613/1619 published by her son Jodocus jr.

The mapmakers are depicted with globes and compasses in the hand. Below the portraits are references to their respective date and place of birth and the date of death. Immigrant from the South, Jodocus Hondius (sr.), had come into possession of the copper plates of Mercator’s family and this was the start for the success of his atlas, which was become known under the double name “Mercator-Hondius atlas.” This purchase would be the beginning of the rise of the Hondius maphouse in Amsterdam. This double portrait is a tribute to Mercator and sets Hondius himself also in daylight.

It is unlikely that the two people ever met.

 

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