Atlas Rotterdam

In 1690 the Rotterdam city council commissioned painter and engraver Johannes de Vou and graphic artist Romeyn de Hooghe to develop and produce a map of the Rotterdam city. Rotterdam had become the second important Dutch city - Amsterdam was in those days the most important city of the Netherlands. The new map was meant to be the crown on this position and had to underline the importance of the city and its port. The original map consisted of over forty separate parts that were combined to one big map measuring 166 x 234 cm. The actual map was the central part. To the left and the right of it there were pictures of prominent buildings in the city. On top you saw the coats of arms of prominent Rotterdam families and at the bottom of the map an overview of the cities waterfront - seen from the south - was shown. Almost one century later the city council decided that the remaining seperate parts of the map should be converted into atlasses of the city. All of the seperate maps were combined into a book and all of the maps were hand coloured. The atlass was meant to be a gift to members of the Rotterdam city council. One of the oldest copies was bought by the Rotterdam nautical art collector Willem Anton Engelbrecht. His famous collection of, among other, maps and atlasses today is part of the collection of the Rotterdam Maritime Museum. The atlass measures (hxw) 56 x 43 cm.