Utrecht Map 1645 Ultraiectum Dominium Blaeu Province Print - Utrecht, Amstelland, Zuiderzee, Haarlemmermeer

This map of the province of Utrecht, Ultraiectum Dominium, was published at Amsterdam about 1645 by the Blaeu house, and it is attributed to Willem Janszoon Blaeu. The copper engraving shows part of Holland to the north and west, part of Gelderland to the east and southeast, and the Amstelland region to the west. The Zuiderzee, which has since been dammed off from the North Sea, lies to the northeast, and the Haerlemer Meer, which has since been drained, lies to the northwest. The sheet is a record of a landscape of water that has now largely vanished. Its dimensions and clean engraving suit a study or a hall, and the hand of the Blaeu workshop is evident in the crisp lettering and the tidy treatment of the water.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born in 1571, the son of a herring merchant, and chose mathematics and astronomy over fish. He studied with the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, set up shop in Amsterdam selling instruments and globes, and in 1635 released his Atlas novus. After his death in 1638 his sons Cornelis and Joan carried on the house, and Joan, who had trained as a lawyer, became hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company and later expanded the atlas into the Atlas maior of 1662 to 1672. A Blaeu provincial map is a fine example of the great age of Dutch cartography.

A collector of Dutch Golden Age maps, a family with roots in Utrecht, or a student of the lost Zuiderzee will find a splendid gift here. TheMapVault's Kaerius map of 1617 shows the same province with costumes and coats of arms, whereas this Blaeu sheet is the later, more austere version. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print.