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John Ogilby: Fluvius Grandis
Title: Fluvius Grandis Map Maker: John Ogilby
Description: Striking view of this important Dutch Fort on the Amazon Delta. In the late 1630s, Holland attempted to reassert its claim over Brazil by establishing a series of forts along the coastline. One of the best-documented colonies was the expedition led by Prince Maurits of Nassau, who attempted to assemble an intellectual court in the New World. He brought with him a group of highly accomplished artists, mapmakers, and scientists to record the mysteries of Brazil. They included the celebrated painter Frans Post, and the astronomer George Markgraf, who produced the first serious study of the southern sky. Post painted a wealth of images of the Brazilian landscape and the surrounding vegetation and wildlife. His works are some of the earliest European paintings of Brazil and were eagerly reproduced in print by Dutch engravers. A finely engraved view of a heavily armed fort along the Amazon delta. In the foreground soldiers and natives can be seen unloading goods from small boats that have come ashore. The title is encased in a beautiful ribbon banner with a large armorial crest. This view appeared in John Ogilby’s seminal America: Being the Latest, and Most Accurate Description of the New World, published in London in 1671. Ogilby’s work is an English translation of Arnoldus Montanus’ Die Nieuwe en onbekende Weereld…, published in Amerstdam, although greatly expanded in some instances and with new maps and views.
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