Claes Jansz. Visscher
Claes Janszoon Visscher (1587 – 19 June 1652) was a Dutch Golden Age draughtsman, engraver, mapmaker, and publisher. He was the founder of the successful Visscher family mapmaking business. The firm that he established in Amsterdam would be passed down his generations until it was sold to Peter Schenk.[1]
Biography
Visscher, who was born and died in
He first established his company in Amsterdam within a district known for publishing maps, the area saw fellow contemporary mapmakers such as Jodocus Hondius and Pieter van den Keere. There is also a belief that Hondius might have apprenticed Visscher.[1]
The trademark of the Visschers was a fisherman, as he often published under the name Piscator. In his maps, a small fisherman would be strategically placed somewhere near water.[1] If the subject was a landscape without a stream or pond, then often a figure walking with a fishing rod can be seen. Their map plates were reused for a century by other printers who unknowingly copied the entire plates, including the tell-tale fishermen. Observant scholars are thus able to trace the provenance of Bibles, maps, and landscapes from these signs.
Aside from Bibles, Claes Visscher II primarily etched and published landscapes, portraits, and maps. He etched over 200 plates and his maps included elaborate original borders. Visscher died in 1652.[6] He was a publisher of prints by Esaias van de Velde, and David Vinckboons, and was a big influence on Roelant Roghman[7] and on his sister Geertruyd.[8]
Gallery
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Detail of a map from 1630 with the "Fisher logo". The signature is both the fisherman drawing and the text "by C.J.Visscher in the Kalverstraet in Amsterdam.
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Fisher added to print of drawing by Geertruydt Roghman.
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A 1617 untitled double hemisphere world map created by Claes Jansz Visscher
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1618 map of Paris by Claes Janszoon Visscher
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1652 world map by Claes Janszoon Visscher
References
- ^ a b c Brown, Kevin J. Maps Through the Ages. White Star Publishers. pp. 47–49.
- RKD
- ^ Claes Jansz. Visscher I Archived 3 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine in the RKD
- ^ Nicolaes Visscher II Archived 15 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine in the RKD
- DBNL
- ^ "Claes Jansz. Visscher Biography". Answers.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ Provincial atlas of North Holland Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine in the North Holland Archives
- ^ Geertruid Roghman Archived 26 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine in the Netherlands female lexicon of history
- Claes Jansz Visscher with some etchings in the Rijksmuseum
External links
- Vermeer and The Delft School, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Claes Jansz. Visscher (see index)
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Claes Jansz. Visscher (see index)